My friend's able parents won't help her pay for college...

If her parents aren’t supporting her, she can file the FAFSA without their information by following [these steps](https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/parent-info#unwilling-parents), but she won’t qualify for any federal aid except the student loan (~$5500/year). I think it will be difficult to extra aid from the colleges. A lot of students have parents who can’t or won’t help pay. If colleges awarded them extra aid because of it, everybody would say they won’t pay.

What are her unweighted GPA and test scores? If her parents won’t help her pay, she’ll need a college that gives good merit aid. She can check the thread posted at the top of the financial aid forum for colleges that offer guaranteed merit. She may want to add [Boise State](https://admissions.boisestate.edu/cost/) to her list as a financial safety. The tuition for state residents is ~$7300/year.