Merit aid - income won’t have to do with your income. Or how many parents work.
Need aid - income will.
If you want a Texas private that gives good merit, check out Trinity in San Antonio in addition to the other two. U Tulsa is another close by that gives solid $$. It’s historically been a back up for Rice/SMU - fine school. U Denver is excellent for finance and should meet cost - merit is aggressive. These schools need butts in seat - so they pay.
What do you really want in a school - start with that? Gigantic or mid size or small?
$55K isn’t an issue in the sense there will be loads.