merit aid

so I'm a mid-upper middle class u.s. applicant. ive done fafsa and net price estimates and i qualify for hardly any financial aid. however, I also can't afford to pay the amount these schools are expecting. I essentially need a full ride, or at least full tuition covered (and even then the room+board+transport etc is still really expensive). I'm a pretty strong applicant for reference. I don't imagine I would get accepted to harvard but im mostly looking at t50-t30 schools.

does anyone have tips for what to do/what schools to apply to? this is such a difficult situation and I really don't want to go into debt but its looking like that may be the only option.