My question is about medical circumstances affect how they look at assets, not just income.
When facing highly precarious medical issues, a family could very easily and suddenly end up with no one being able to work anymore or huge out of pocket costs (skilled nursing). That makes equity in a home, or other reserves, not something people can tap for college. The rainy day fund takes on additional importance. It isn’t a true liquid asset, it is more akin to a retirement account - which schools don’t consider.