means test

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An investigation into the financial well-being of a person to determine the person's eligibility for financial assistance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An inquiry into the financial position of a person applying for a government benefit in order to determine their eligibility.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an inquiry into the financial position of someone applying for financial aid