Do I believe that a family with 100K in income and $10 million in a qualified retirement account is looked at differently than a family with 100K in income and 95K in retirement?
On the margins- and in some cases- yes. On the margins if a family is on the bubble for aid it might get a look. On the margins for a need aware school, where the KID is on the bubble. In some cases- if the kid is likely to be getting preferential packaging of a merit plus need award.
But in most cases, I see no evidence that it’s a factor. I remember several articles when Mitt Romney was running for president trying to explain how the value of his retirement accounts could be as high as he had disclosed-- and pretty much the consensus was that you could be an ordinary Joe in the year you disclose your income (not that Mitt was every ordinary from a financial perspective), but that an analysis of your retirement accounts was a good way to assess what the last two decades of your working life was like.