The good news is that the back glass price should change here in the next few weeks. I run independent repair shops (not affiliated with Apple) and literally today we did our first test on a new back glass removal tool we bought. We successfully removed the back glass on an iPhone 8 housing we purchased broken.
These devices just hit the US a few days ago, so give it a few weeks and I would expect independent shops to offer back glass replacement in the $99-$149 range.
This is also why Right to Repair is so important. These tools are not built or sanctioned by Apple, but the demand is there, so third parties build, test, and verify them to help reduce prices for iPhone owners like you.
The issue is Apple are not going to start use this 3rd party tool and drop their glass back repair price from $549 to $149. People will need to still take their phones to 3rd parties to get a reasonable price. This is why we need 3rd party repair options so badly
These devices just hit the US a few days ago, so give it a few weeks and I would expect independent shops to offer back glass replacement in the $99-$149 range.
This is also why Right to Repair is so important. These tools are not built or sanctioned by Apple, but the demand is there, so third parties build, test, and verify them to help reduce prices for iPhone owners like you.