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                                                                   EXHIBIT 99.01
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


                                        FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

                                        Mark C. Brown, Senior Vice President and
                                        Chief Financial Officer
                                        (703) 247-2514



                  STRAYER EDUCATION, INC. ANNOUNCES CLOSING OF
              3.45 MILLION SHARE SECONDARY OFFERING OF COMMON STOCK


ARLINGTON, Va., March 15, 2004 -- Strayer Education, Inc. (the "Company")
(Nasdaq: STRA) announced today that its previously announced secondary offering
of common stock closed earlier today. The 3.45 million shares sold in the
offering include 450,000 shares sold pursuant to the exercise of the
underwriters' over-allotment option. The Company will not receive any of the
proceeds of the offering. The common shares were issued following the conversion
of convertible preferred stock and the partial exercise of an option currently
held by New Mountain Partners, L.P., New Mountain Strayer Trust and MidOcean
Capital Investors, L.P., as well as the exercise of options held by certain of
the Company's management, who sold a total of 115,000 shares in the offering.
This offering was made pursuant to the exercise of existing registration rights
held by the selling shareholders. After giving effect to the offering, New
Mountain will continue to beneficially own approximately 11% of Strayer's equity
securities.

The managing underwriters for the offering were Credit Suisse First Boston, Banc
of America Securities LLC, JPMorgan, Legg Mason Wood Walker Incorporated, Lehman
Brothers and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC.

Strayer Education, Inc. (Nasdaq: STRA) is an education services holding company
that owns Strayer University and certain other assets. Strayer's mission is to
make higher education achievable and convenient for working adults in today's
economy. Strayer University is a proprietary institution of higher learning that
offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business administration,
accounting, information technology, education, and public administration to more
than 20,000 working adult students at 27 campuses in Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee and
worldwide via the Internet through Strayer University Online. Strayer University
is committed to providing an education that prepares working adult students for
advancement in their careers and professional lives. Founded in 1892, Strayer
University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

For more information on Strayer Education, Inc., visit www.strayereducation.com
and for Strayer University visit www.strayer.edu.

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This press release contains statements that are forward looking and are made
pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 ("Reform Act"). The statements are based on the Company's
current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks. In
connection with the Safe Harbor provisions of the Reform Act, the Company has
identified important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to
differ materially. The uncertainties and risks include the pace of growth of
student enrollment, our continued compliance with Title IV of the Higher
Education Act, and the regulations thereunder, as well as state and regional
regulatory requirements, competitive factors, risks associated with the opening
of new campuses, risks associated with the offering of new educational programs
and adapting to other changes, risks associated with the acquisition of existing
educational institutions, risks relating to the timing of regulatory approvals,
our ability to implement our growth strategy, and general economic and market
conditions. Further information about these and other relevant risks and
uncertainties may be found in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and its
other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are
incorporated herein by reference and which are available from the Commission. We
undertake no obligation to update or revise forward looking statements.


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