If this student is rather certain that the parents will not help with college if they find out, then don’t tell them.
I think this student thinks that being independent will mean tons of aid. It won’t, even if magically she became independent (which she won’t).
She indicates that she won’t have stellar stats, so really, her most affordable choices will likely be a FL public using parents’ money and Bright Futures. thankfully, FL is a nice long state so it’s not hard to attend a school that is a few hours away from home, which would minimize “pop-surprise” visits from the fam.