We Knew that going in. I'm from an AF family and know the life style. DD is carrying a 4.0 into her last semester at USNA in Honors Applied Mathematics. She will do just fine when she is done being a squid.Yeah...definitely the ones who have their eye on the pros, but anyone who is more focused on playing their sport than getting an education and serving the nation. There are some who go to college and essentially major in their sport. There's a place for that, but I don't want to see it at a service academy.
Merit aid is just that, and a school / coach saying "you make too much" is nonsensical. To me, that means they were NOT talking about aid based only on academic achievement. We looked for schools with reasonably high selectivity, but not those where everyone has ACT scores north of 30. Initial written offers came long before FAFSA. Some schools want girls who want to be STEM majors, and will apparently work for the right candidate. Younger DD got an individual tour at a school that was patterned off what one might see for a highly regarded athletic prospect. One school brought her in for a series of faculty interviews that resulted in an additional offer by day's end. Nobody asked how much we made.
Even with two now at private universities, I get nothing "need based"...not even subsidized student loans. The aid from the schools they selected is substantial, and comes for several different reasons, but I've also become pretty good at picking off private scholarship money. Both DDs did well in HS, and are doing well in college STEM majors, which makes that a viable strategy.
In any event, your situation is obviously working out very well. I'm thoroughly familiar with your DD's prospective career path. All I can say is get used to not seeing her very much. The Navy seems to demand even more now than it did years ago.