Nothing wrong with what you’re asking and yes, in theory they should be treated the same. They just aren’t though.
I think Thumper is correct about family owned businesses not needing to be reported on the FAFSA under certain conditions. I forgot about that. You could look into that as it might be what your planner was thinking. I’m not aware of great need based aid at FAFSA only schools though. Most of the really generous schools use CSS or their own form.
Colleges differ in how they treat equity in the primary home. Most look at it to some extent, some don’t at all. Most don’t expect retirement funds to be used for college.