Q. Is she ineligible from being claimed as a "dependent" on parents taxes?
A. Yes. There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test. She cannot be a QC because she is not a full time student over 18. She cannot be a Qualifying Relative becuse she had more than $4300 of income. Support, alone, does not determine if someone is a dependent.
See full dependent rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Ret...
Q. Must she now now file as "independent" from parents?
A. Yes, if she either needs or wants to file (and she does want to).
Q. How does that (being "independent" affect tuition paid, AOC, or any partial scholarships she may have earned?
A. Since she cannot be a dependent and is not full time, she can claim the AOC (including the refundable portion) on her return. She must either reduce her qualified expenses by the amount of her scholarships or declare some of the schoalship as income if she needs to incease the amount of expenses used for the AOC.
