I respectfully disagree with VAOptimist’s comment that she is in the middle of stats for Vassar. I think she is on the low if that. For Vassar, the middle is around a 3.85 unweighted GPA and 1420 SAT (not sure about ACT). And often times the published stats are two years old. With all of thee schools getting record applications each year, Vassar is a reach school for most students. I wish your daughter had applied to other need blind schools that meet 100% of financial need such as Smith, Hamilton, Colby, Bates. Lastly, I don’t know about state schools, but I know the privates will consider current financial situation in revising financial aid offers. Please write to them, meet with them and see what they can do for your daughter. Worse case scenario, have her attend the state school, figure out a way to get the $10k for the first year (borrow) and have her transfer to one of the top liberal arts colleges that meet 100% of need for her sophomore year, and make sure she applies to a dozen of them this time around.
For Vassar: http://institutionalresearch.vassar.edu/docs/Vassar-College-CDS-2015-16.pdf
The ACT is ~30-40%ile and the GPA seems on the low side (they don’t publish that info).
Her GPA is a little low for Vassar. As a low income student, if she was going to get a wink on anything, it would have been the scores(as a low income student she would get a wink for not having access to resources to get a higher score in the 30’s). Also her scores would be used in context her high school (they ask for ranges on the school profile)
However, her GPA is a reflection of what she has done in school day-in-day out over the past 3.5 years. Unless the school is known for grade deflation (this would be part of the student profile and the SSR) having a high score and a low GPA demonstrates that she is capable but perhaps is not doing her best work.