We had the same sorts of issues with our kids. The first (stubborn one) attended early college and decided not to study for the ACT, counting on his dual enrollment college grades (which were excellent, along with most outstanding undergraduate awards) for admission to lottery schools and our state flagship. He didn’t listen to us about standardized tests and was rejected from every one. He was so dejected he worked for a year, then applied again with a slightly better ACT score (27) and was rejected again. The second learned from his brother’s mistakes. He got a 36, had lots of scholarship offers and acceptances from highly selective colleges, and ended up at a top 10 school for his major.
So if there is any advice I can give your junior daughter, tell her to improve her ACT 3-4 (or more) points to make herself eligible for more merit awards, or colleges where your EFC is more in line with what you want to pay. She does have the advantage of being a rural applicant which is fairly unusual for the most selective colleges ; that will help her as a diversity candidate.