OP's situation is almost exactly my wife's. She'll have about 80K EQM and about $13K EQD. Tough luck for her. If one were way above the EXP EQD threshold and very close to the EQM threshold they might do something but even then I would think it would be a long shot. If she were me I'd see if there were some MR opportunities but she has no interest in that. I too am out of AUS but I haven't found that a handicap fare-wise. The main disadvantage is its non-coastal location and the resulting unavailability of transcons for MRs.

In past years the buyup offers I saw for EXP were very unattractive. I don't think it mattered much how close you were.