Participation in two federal programs that supplement Pell Grants for high-achieving, low-income students grew significantly in the last academic year, though not as much as the Education Department had hoped, suggesting that the fledgling programs are still struggling to gain their footing. Approximately 465,000 college students received aid from the Academic Competitiveness and National Smart Grant programs in 2007-2008, the programs' second academic year. That is 95,000 more than in the year before. But the increase still fell short of the department's goal of adding 120,000 recipients to the programs, which would have put the agency on track to double the size of the programs by the 2011-2012 academic year. Although the programs continue to fall short of expectations over all, department officials are optimistic that there will be a large jump in competitiveness-grant recipients next year, when students who were freshmen in high school when the programs started begin enrolling in college. Unlike their predecessors, those students will have had their entire high-school career to complete the rigorous course work required to receive a grant. At the same time, a loosening of eligibility requirements should make more students eligible for both awards, extending the grants to noncitizens, part-time students, and students in certificate programs. A fifth year of Smart Grant eligibility for students in their final year of a certified five-year program is also being added. [Jeffrey Brainard and Sara Hebel contributed to this report.]