A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

       FOR RELEASE                           Contact: Jane Glickman (202) 401-1576     November 14, 1996                              Stephanie Babyak (202) 401-1576

McCormick Named Chair of Direct Loan Task Force

The announcement was made at a Nov. 11 meeting of the National Direct Student Loan Coalition, a working group representing schools that offer direct loans.

"Joe's experience in directing a broad range of student aid programs, coupled with his success in launching a student loan guaranty agency that emphasized customer service, will be tremendous assets to the department and the direct lending team," Riley said.

In his new duties, McCormick will oversee the activities of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, under which the federal government issues loans directly to students through schools rather than through private lenders. More than 1,600 postsecondary institutions are now signed up to issue direct loans for nearly two million students. In the program's first two years, more than $10 billion in direct loans were issued, and another $12 billion will be made in this, its third year.

The task force selects schools for the direct loan program, provides technical assistance and training, and coordinates the administrative aspects to keep the program running smoothly.

McCormick brings more than 29 years of experience in student financial aid management to his new post. He will replace the current chair, Diane Sedicum Voigt, who retires in December. The task force is under the Office of Student Financial Assistance in the Office of Postsecondary Education.

Currently, he serves as direct loan liaison officer, supervising direct loan account managers in the department's 10 regional offices, which provide technical assistance to participating schools. From August 1995 to April 1996, he was the acting director of the department's guarantee agency and lender oversight staff that oversees these agencies that participate in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).

From 1987 - 1994, he was a charter member of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a congressionally mandated committee providing advice and counsel to the U.S. Congress and the secretary of education on federal student financial aid policy.

Prior to joining the department, McCormick served as executive director of the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, which administers all state programs of student financial aid, regulates proprietary schools, and promotes postsecondary education opportunity for Alaskans.

From 1980 to 1992, McCormick was president and CEO of the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TGSLC), which administers the FFEL program in Texas. During that time, he also served as president of the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs and as a member of the Texas Legislature's Select Committee on Higher Education.

From 1967 - 1980, McCormick was director of financial aid at three universities: University of Houston, Mississippi State University and Oklahoma State University Okmulgee, and also served as president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. McCormick earned a doctorate in educational administration from The University of Texas at Austin (1994), a master's degree from Mississippi State University (1977) and a bachelor of arts degree from West Texas State University (1967).