Updated September 24, 2015:  The post was altered for clarification and correction.

Lamar Alexander is welcoming a move by the Obama administration to simplify federal financial aid applications.

The Tennessee senator says
the proposal will remove one of the major barriers to kids going to college. 

He hopes to have a streamlined form in place next year.

Alexander has pushed for years to make the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — or FAFSA — easier. 
Obama’s backing represents a breakthrough, the Republican lawmaker says.

“I mean we’ve got bipartisan support. And I learned a long time ago that if you’ve got a good idea, you push it, you work with other people, and you don’t care who gets credit for it. So I’m glad to have the president support it.”

The Obama administration announced last week that it would change, through an executive order, the date in which the FAFSA becomes available from January to October.* The decision is meant to make it easier for families to gather the tax information needed. Many parents will even be able to click a retrieval button to transfer their IRS information onto the FAFSA online.

Alexander wants to go even farther. He’d like to shorten the FAFSA from 104 questions to a form the size of a postcard.

He also wants to let high school juniors fill it out. That would give them more time to plan for college tuition.

A bill making those changes is already in Congress. Alexander says he wants to have it passed in time to help the graduating class of 2016-2017 get into college.

*
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated this as a deadline change.