Help for someone with a ~3.5 GPA?

We were in a similar situation to yours this year and came up with the following list of selective, but not ridiculously so, schools that have been known to give near full need aid to strong students (good rigor and test scores) with less than perfect GPAs: Case Western, U of Rochester, Tulane, Brandeis, U of Miami, RPI, and Trinity U (TX). DS was admitted to four and each met or came very close to EFC with merit/need aid combination. We didn’t really look at LACs, but many of the Colleges That Change Lives such as Centre College, the College of Wooster, and Denison University offer similar types of aid. As suggested, use the Net Price Calculators to identify schools that are likely to offer the aid you need.

U of Chicago and Harvey Mudd have miniscule acceptance rates; you have almost no chance at either unhooked with a subpar GPA and 33 ACT. Pick one or two high reaches if you feel you must (I believe U of Chicago waives the application fee at your income level), but you should use the majority of your limited resources to target the more realistic, but still great, options that are out there.