AUGUSTA — Democratic concerns having been laid to rest, the Maine Senate on Friday gave final approval to consolidating state financial-aid programs for college students within one branch of the Finance Authority of Maine.

“Finally, finally, finally, we’re on the way!” exclaimed Sen. Barbara Gill, R-South Portland, after the Senate’s 32-0 vote. “This is an auspicious time, between the Ides of March and St. Patrick’s Day, to send this out.”

The emergency bill will take effect immediately on Gov. John R. McKernan’s signature.

“I am pleased that we have overcome all the hurdles so that one-stop shopping for deserving Maine students and their families can become a reality,” McKernan said in a statement from Kittery, which was his Capital for a Day.

“The current maze of financial assistance programs can make a student’s pursuit of a college education an overwhelming prospect,” McKernan said. “With the Legislature’s action, I think we have made a major stride in improving the educational opportunities open to Maine’s young people.”

McKernan had promoted the idea of one-stop shopping for college loans and scholarships for more than a year, but it bogged down at the end of the last legislative session.

Some lawmakers on the Education Committee feared an independent agency handling so much money could run into the same kind of financial scandals that hit similar agencies in some other states.

In a compromise, the Legislature and McKernan agreed to put the new agency under the umbrella of FAME, which already handles financial assistance to Maine businesses.

But the agency could not start handling college aid until the bill that finally was approved Friday became law, because that bill is needed to ensure funding and get the agency started.

During this legislative session, Democrats balked at approving the enabling bill over various concerns about its effect on the budget at a time when the state faces an estimated $210 million budget shortfall.

That logjam was broken earlier this week. The bill whisked through both houses and onto the Appropriations table, where all bills that cost money traditionally lie until the end of the session when they must compete for funding.

But Sen. Michael Pearson, D-Enfield, Senate chairman of Appropriations, had the college-aid bill removed from the table on Friday, so it could get final approval.

Supporters want the new agency set up as soon as possible so students and parents can use it to plan how they’ll pay for college studies starting next fall.

Pearson said the new agency would cost $300,000 a year to operate, but that cost won’t take effect until fiscal 1992. This year, the program is to be run with $300,000 in interest earned from such accounts as the Blaine House Scholars program.

About $12 million in student-loan money will be transferred from the Department of Educational and Cultural Services to FAME in the new program.

Sen. Stephen Estes, D-Kittery, Senate chairman of the Education Committee, said more work needed to be done in order to get the consolidation under way.

But, said Estes, “The green light is about to turn to get one-stop shopping for students of higher education. We’ve come up with something that I think we can all live with.”