1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Perkins Access, Retention, and Completion (ARC) Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Since the inception of the Federal Perkins Loan Program in 1958, over $28,000,000,000 in loans have been made to students through more than 25,000,000 aid awards. Millions of students and families in need have been helped by Federal Perkins Loans. (2) The Federal Perkins Loan Program was a revolving fund that utilized a model of risk sharing, local control, and school based servicing that greatly benefited students, borrowers, and institutions of higher education for six decades. (3) In the 2016–2017 academic year, the last year that Federal Perkins Loans were authorized, 30 percent of families with dependent students receiving Federal Perkins Loans had annual incomes below $30,000 and 8 percent of families with dependent students receiving Federal Perkins Loans had annual incomes below $12,000. (4) Since the expiration of the Federal Perkins Loan Program authorization in 2017, there has been no substitute or replacement aid for college students with need, which has resulted in many students having to borrow higher cost student loans or withdraw from college altogether. 3. Federal Perkins ARC Loans (a) In general Part E of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) is amended by inserting before section 461 the following new section: 460A. Federal perkins access, retention, and completion ARC loan (a) Designation of loans The Secretary shall carry out a program assisting in the maintenance of funds at institutions of higher education for the making of loans to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in need to pursue their courses of study in such institutions or while engaged in programs of study abroad approved for credit by such institutions. Loans made under this section shall be known as Federal Perkins ARC Loans . (b) Terms and conditions Unless otherwise specified in this section, all terms and conditions and other