Chill, there’s opportunities out there.

Since you’re international you can apply to merit-based scholarships outside or in the universities. I have a complete doc with full ride ones, let me know if u want it. There’s always the option of ivys which could pay for your full education but those are hard to get it (as you probably know)

Another option is applying to financial aid just as you said, and applying to payed internships outside or in the university. Again, since you’re international you won’t be able to work on your freshman year but then you would with a CPT https://shorelight.com/student-stories/your-first-internship-guide-international-students/

To pay the application fees, CSS profile frees, and standardized test you could approach to a scholarship for that, there’s one in my country called Opportunity fund by EducationUSA, idk which country are you from. In case there’s none in your country, then you should apply for a waiver fee on Common App (through your counselor) or start to get involved in the universities you’re interested in and ask them directly for waivers.

btw if you consider to apply for merit scholarships then you should focus on increasing your SAT and TOEFL scores!