Means Test Calculator

The School Year 2026/2027

FOR DEMONSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY

If you meet the initial eligibility criteria for the SEC grant (residence, child’s religion, SEC school), please use the Means Test calculator below to estimate the grant that you may be eligible to receive for the 2026/27 school year

All funds paid out in grants are provided by the Department of Education. The means test takes account of all financial information and is used to identify necessitous applicants below a certain threshold. The criteria for the test are reviewed annually by the board of directors of the SEC

Please be aware that the calculator is only an estimation and does not guarantee you of the grant you may receive

All applications must be accompanied by supporting documentation

2024 Household Income

Enter your household (i.e. your and your spouse/partner/cohabitants) after tax income and/or total social welfare received in 2024

 To see which figures from your Revenue documents to include click here

If you received social welfare only, deduct child benefit from the total figure on your 2024 Social Welfare statement and enter it into the after tax income box

Only capital allowances for trading losses are factored into the means test

Less: Dependent Child Allowance

The SEC applies a deduction to account for the cost of each dependent child in your household who was born after 31st August 2002 i.e is under the age of 24. 

Please note: If you have twins, triplets etc. as dependents (they do not need to be grantees) or more than three children attending an SEC school we will be applying a higher dependent child allowance to your means test. Contact support@secgrant.ie for a manual calculation.

 

In the table below you will see how this figure is calculated

 

Examples:

I have 3 dependent children and 1 of them is attending third level (eg University, plc, apprenticeship etc), my dependent child allowance is €21,369

I have 3 dependent children, all attending either primary or secondary school, so my dependent child allowance is €18,795

Less: Rent/Mortgage

Enter the total amount of rent or mortgage you paid in 2024 for your family home only.

If you live rent free or do not pay a mortgage enter €0.00

Plus: Liquid assets

Liquid assets are treated differently to property as they are divisible and can be converted to cash with relative ease.

Add together the current balances in your current account/s, savings account/s, value of your shares, investment bonds (e.g. Irish state savings), prize bonds, credit union savings.

 Deduct €80,000 and enter the remaining figure.

 

Plus: Property other than your family home

Enter property value minus the current mortgage balance then deduct €400,000.

If you have more than one property add the values together and deduct the added mortgage balances. Deduct €400,000 and enter into box.

Example:

Your holiday home has a value of €450,000. The mortgage balance is €20,000. 

(€450,000 - €20,000) - €400,000 = €30,000

Enter €30,000 into box

 

You will be asked to provide evidence of valuation for your property and for any mortgage balance statements. Click here for document examples 

This figure does not guarantee the grant level that you will receive, more detailed information and supporting material will need to be supplied.

The estimated grant is based on your Net Reckonable Income.

Net Reckonable Incomes are divided into bands and grant amounts are awarded based on these bands.

The highest Net Reckonable Income that qualifies for a grant is €62,000.

The table below outlines the levels of grant payable in 2025/26. Grant amounts are reviewed annually.

If you would like to apply for the 2026/27 SEC grant and are a new applicant, request a registration form from your school, if you applied last year a Registration Form will be automatically sent to you in October