Unless something has changed, it is not true that Skidmore gives out merit aid. They give out a very small handful (5?) of science scholarships and a comparable number of music scholarships, and that’s it.
Do you need a lot of merit aid, or a school that gives generous need-based aid? They’re two fundamentally different questions that depend on your family’s expected financial contribution, according to the calculators available on college web sites.
Once you nail that part down, if you could be a bit more specific about what you’re looking for in a college, we could offer better advice. Your scores and grades are good enough to get generous merit aid at a whole lot of schools.