OP, welcome to the wonderful world of admissions and financial aid! You’ve already received some nuggets of needed information, but I also advise you to poke around the Financial Aid forum. It’s a common misnomer that low income = every school will give you lots of financial aid if you get in, but unfortunately that is not how it works. You’ll see lots and lots of threads from students who assumed they’d get a lot of aid as long as they got in, got in and then couldn’t afford to attend XYZ dream school.
Not all schools promise to “meet need,” and even those who do–the school determines what your need is. And their determination and yours may be different! Your family may say “we can’t pay anything.” The school may say “You can pay $15,000 a year.” Other schools practice was is called preferential packaging, which means they offer the most money to students they most want on campus–these schools are great for high achieving candidates, especially those far above the “typical” student admitted there–but they can be hit or miss for low income students–they can still “gap” you significantly (or provide a full ride. It ranges.)
There are all sorts of other categories, but the above two are important distinctions for you to note. Most of the top 20-30 schools do not offer ANY merit aid: only financial aid, and how much they offer varies widely. Some are “need blind” and meet full need, others are “need aware” and meet full need… many are a nebulous combination of need blind or need aware and “may meet need.”
The issue with your list is it is almost 100% “no merit” high reach schools with varying degrees of generosity and flexibility to their “meets need” financial policies. Some, but not all, of the Ivies meet full need. I’ve heard varying reports on Cornell, Columbia and Princeton in terms of lots of aid for low income. Harvard and Yale have reputations for being the most “generous” (in that their income thresholds for full tuition aid are pretty high). UPenn is pretty good, but not perfect–I’ve heard of full rides there, but also gapping. (anecdata: I know a super low income young woman who got a full ride from UPenn but not from Columbia. They vary in their decisions!)
It’s been said already but: if you are not a California resident, you will get no aid from UCLA or UCB. Even if you’re IN state, the UCs will gap you. When I saw a poverty line student still get gapped 8K a year last year by one of the UCs, I was pretty shocked… even low income in state students aren’t getting “full rides.”
Most of your competitive privates are a mixed bag… you’ll either get a lot from them if you get in and have a truly high need, or they’re going to gap you by a lot. The one on your list that jumps out is USC–they do preferential packaging, so I’d call it a high match school that should stay on your list. One of them, if you get in, might offer you a Cinderella package… but they might not. The thing is–most of the competitive privates on your list are really difficult to get into. You have solid stats but not such that I can say “you’ll definitely get into these!” After seeing a high achieving young woman get into NONE of the competitive privates or Ivies she applied to last year (not a single one!), I’m wary of telling a student “don’t worry!” A balanced college list with safeties is a must.
That is to say: you need to add a bunch of matches and safeties that are known for either truly meeting full need (run the EFC calculator on their sites to check what they say your need is) OR where your profile is more competitive than the average applicant/admitted student and they might offer you merit–many schools offer merit, just not the tippy-top ones. You can also apply to competitive merit scholarships at schools, and consider one of the “automatic tuition” schools as a safety. The favorite on CC is University of Alabama and for good reasons–you qualify for their full tuition scholarship and it’s a great school with rolling admission. Add at least two safeties and three proper matches, and then I would pare down the above list a bit so it’s not as “reach/financial gamble” heavy.
