Don’t ignore the state university system or local community colleges just because you “don’t like them” – you need to find a couple that you could attend, as these are often the affordable options for kids without an unlimited budget. Yes, hopefully you get into a better college with a fabulous financial aid package, but it’s important to have low cost backup plans, too.
This website is geared around finding colleges that offer more scholarships and less debt to low income students.
https://projects.propublica.org/colleges/
Select “search by state” to see a bunch of schools in a geographic area at once.
Almost all school are need blind for admission, but that doesn’t mean they meet the full needs of all admitted students…
You could go to a school like Smith that doesn’t have a big sports program of its own, but is very near UMass and you could attend those games.
So what is the status of your biological father? Depending on the answer, it could affect the aid you get or which schools make sense.
You should get fee waivers for the SAT so prep seriously and retake (see in the Test forum the “xiggi and silverturtle method”). Most stusents need to take the test 2-3 times.
Try the ACT (you qualify for two fee waivers - next test date is september take advantage of it).
What are your top subjects? => subject tests
I second Dickinson and St Lawrence.
Test optional colleges that meet full need for lower income applicants include Bates, Bowdoin, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan, Franklin&Marshall, Mount Holyoke, Skidmore, Clark, Muhlenberg.
Skidmore is also in NYS, as is St Lawrence, so you may qualify for HEOP (a special program in NYS for high achieving, lower income new Yorkers). Look it up.
You have to make a choice:
If you want a large University with football and basketball, SUNYs are your only affordable choice.
If high-quality affordable education matters more than school size and sports, then it expands your possibilities to all the elite schools listed above.