Those guys were wrong. Even Bill Gates’ kids would get loans if they fill out the FAFSA. So will your kids.
Assets don’t all come in the same form. FAFSA doesn’t consider the corpus of any retirement funds, just contributions made in the tax year being evaluated. A parent who has $500k in a 401k might very well have a student who qualifies for need based FA. That parent might be earning very little, have 5 kids in college, but was one terrific saver in his early working life.
There is no number.