I would say yes. having fellowship money can make a big difference in terms of being able to take on a student. At the very least, they will say no again, but at least you will have tried. I saw a post once of someone else in this situation who was able to get into a program that they had not originally applied for because they had a grant and that meant the school could afford to take them. I would start contacting POIs that you applied to, especially if you interviewed with any of them and it went well, and maybe some others that you are interested in working with that you didn't apply to before. Hopefully someone can give you better info on how to go about this. Congrats on your fellowship!
