1. Name and Address of Reporting Person
   Diefenderfer III, William M.
   11600 Sallie Mae Drive
   Reston, VA 20193
2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
   USA Education, Inc. (SLM)
3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary)
4. Statement for Month/Year
   8/2001
5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)
6. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable)
   (X) Director                   ( ) 10% Owner
   ( ) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other (specify below)
7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
   (X) Form filed by One Reporting Person
   ( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person

TABLE I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
+---------------------------------+----------+-------------+-----------------------------+----------------+-----------+------------+ |1. Title of Security |2. Trans- |3. Trans- |4. Securities Acquired (A) |5. Amount of |6. Owner- |7. Nature | | | action | action | or Disposed of (D) | Securities | ship | of In- | | | Date | Code | | Beneficially | Form: | direct | | | | | | Owned at | Direct | Bene- | | | (Month/ | | | End of | (D) or | ficial | | | Day/ +-------+-----+-----------+------+----------+ Month | Indirect| Owner- | | | Year) |Code |V |Amount |A/D |Price | | (I) | ship | +---------------------------------+----------+-------+-----+-----------+------+----------+----------------+-----------+------------+ Common Stock 08/16/2001 M 2200 A $43.3125 D Common Stock 08/16/2001 S -1659 D $83.0000 5842 D
TABLE II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
+-------------+--------+----------+---------+-----------+---------------------+----------------+----------+--------+-------+-------+ |1. |2. |3. |4. |5. |6. |7. |8. |9. |10. |11. | | | | | | | | | |Number |Owner- | | | | | | | | | | |of |ship | | | | | | | | | | |Deriv- |Form of| | | | | | | | |Title and Amount| |ative |Deriv- | | | | | | | | |of Underlying | |Secur- |ative |Nature | | |Conver- | | |Number of | |Securities | |ities |Secur- |of | | |sion or | | |Derivative |Date Exercisable +-------+--------+ |Benefi- |ity: |In- | | |Exercise| | |Securities |and Expiration Date | |Amount | |cially |Direct |direct | | |Price of|Transac- |Transac- |Acquired(A)|(Month/Day/Year) | |or | |Owned |(D) or |Bene- | |Title of |Deriv- |tion Date |tion Code|Disposed(D)+----------+----------+ |Number |Price of |at End |In- |ficial | |Derivative |ative |(Month/ +------+--+-----+-----+Date Exer-|Expira- | |of |Derivative|of |direct |Owner- | |Security |Security|Day/Year) |Code |V |(A) |(D) |cisable |tion Date |Title |Shares |Security |Month |(I) |ship | +-------------+--------+----------+------+--+-----+-----+----------+----------+-------+--------+----------+--------+-------+-------+ Stock Option $43.3125 08/16/2001 M 2200 05/20/2009 Common 2200 $43.3125 36600 D (Right to buy) Stock Explanation of Responses: The options become exercisible in increments of one-third; One-third become exercisible one year from the date of grant, one-third upon the Company's common stock having a closing price on the New York Stock Exchange of $57.15 and $71.43, respectively, for five trading days, they also become exercisible on the eighth anniversary of the grant (May 20, 2007 and May 26, 2007, respectively) subject to terms regarding the reporting person's continued service with the Company.
SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON /s/Mary F. Eure (POA) DATE 09/04/2001