What you need to understand about financial aid is .... well, it's complicated.
You refer to "high academic" D3. You should know that the very highest academic D3's -- the ones that admit in the single digits and have relatively high yields (= % of admitted students who choose to attend, which cluster in the 30's or low 40's for the most elite D3 schools - and much higher even than that for, say, the IVY's or Stanford (80+)) tend not to give merit based aid at all. This schools mostly give only need based aid. That's in part because they are determined to be open to all comers, based on academic merit alone, independently of financial means. It's also partly because they have no need, thanks to their large endowments, to chase full tuition paying students to fill out their ranks of students.
If you're talking about one of these schools, merit based aid is not in the cards.
It should also be said about need based aid that the federal formula for calculating expected parent contribution can feel completely unrealistic, depending on what part of the country one is from, to parents. For example, in our case, our EFC was like 90K. No way in hell we could make that work. Thankfully, because of a benefit from my employer, I wouldn't have had too, even if no other form of aid was available.
The problem, among other things, is that the Feds take no account of what it costs to live in a place like California. They consider our exorbitant mortgage payments a "life-style choice,' for example. I don't know where you live or what your parents earn or are worth obviously. But you should be warned that what the financial aid office says they can afford may not be what they themselves think they can afford.
Thankfully, some colleges have their own "local" formula for calculating need. Stanford, for example, has decided that parents making under 125K with "typical assets" (whatever that means) -- which is a decent income by national standards -- will be expected to make no contribution to tuition payments. Even families with incomes up to 225K -- which is, again, very decent by national standards -- may qualify for financial assistance.
The point is that a wealthy university like Stanford can afford to be considerably more generous with aid than less well-endowed universities. Doling out that that kind assistance takes a really BIG endowment. It is simply not something that every private college or university can do.
Some top academic D3 are very well endowed, perhaps as well endowed on a per capita basis as Stanford and its brethren. So perhaps some very well endowed need blind high academic D3's have made a choice similar to Stanford's. That's something you can probably find out with a little leg work.
The best bets for getting a good aid package and saving your parents lots of dough at a "high" D3 school are second tier but still reasonably high academic schools that are less selective than those that admit in the single digits and have somewhat lower yields. Some so-called "highly selective" high academic D3 really aren't all that selective. They may admit as many at 40 - 50% of applicants and have yields in the low 20's or even mid teens.
Partly because of the relatively low yields, such colleges often operate as if they are in something of a dog-fight for desirable students. In fact, they somewhat are. That's where merit money comes in. And that's where your leverage comes in too, as long as there is something about you that makes them especially want you as part of their incoming class. The thing you need to know is that merit money can come in all forms. It's not JUST a matter of high GPA. Though all these second and third tier "high academic" want that too, its not all they want. For example, my own son, who was no great scholar in high school, is, however, a promising artist. He was offered substantial art scholarships at three of the schools to which he was accepted -- despite the fact that his grades and test scores were at best middle of the pack at each of the schools to which he was accepted.
So the question you need to ask Is whether there something unique about you that might make a school want you as part of its student body -- even though you grades might not "blow them out of the water." Usually, you can get a feel for this by perusing a school's website. They usually have a lot of information about the different sorts of scholarships they offer and what it takes to get them.
Hope that helps a bit. Happy hunting.
