First and foremost, you do have to have needs to get NB FA. Different schools have different calculator but you should be able to use those on line to get a ball park estimation.
As most of you already know, FA is mostly based on income plus about 5% of your assets. If you are right on the line or just slightly over, some long term planning could help you get some FA from only the very best schools.
For examples, a typical family with 150K AGI will have a 500K house, multiple good cars, and a nice sum of cash savings. If you have the same 150K AGI but you live in a $250K house, two old domestic cars, and only $20K saving, you could make your case that your family have other obilgations from that 150K AGI.
This requires real needs and/or good long term planning.
Good luck to all. Remember, those w/o FA need on application form have at least double AR than those say they have needs.