If she is applying again, I’d check the Colleges that Change Lives list. Your student may want to consider schools where she might be a more geographically interesting candidate. Many of those can be generous with merit and fall under the radar. You can likely get under 40K at many which may be money well preserved for grad programs.
I think a gap year can be fine IF you have a plan for it. Rochester is a great school, my older kid was admitted but it ended up too expensive for us. But transfer path is definitely risky.