If the family’s financial situation changed between initial application and now, they should immediately FILE AN APPEAL. They should have done so weeks ago.
We did this at S’s first choice school and they responded positively. (Admittedly, the school was Dartmouth, which has extremely generous FA.) H’s employer was going bankrupt and had stopped paying him.
Re selling the house: if the reason is that the family is locked into an unrealistically high mortgage payment that strains the family finances going forward, sure, it makes overall financial sense to free up income and possibly even capital. If it means that they are going to blow their capital on tuition and be left in severely straightened circumstances, that doesn’t make sense. To me.
If she was waitlisted at the U of C, having a 2300 instead of a 2200 is not going to garner her merit money there next year. In addition, the U of C is–or at least was–somewhat notorious for treating the self-employed very poorly on the FA front.
The only good reason I can see to spend time on further testing would be to qualify for an AUTOMATIC scholarship. If there is a school with such a scholarship for which she is eligible as an international student.