Can this person apply for Hispanic scholarship?

His mother is half Anglo, half Spanish. The Spanish is not from Mexico or Puerto Rico or South American Countries, but from Spain. Because the census and most questionaires do not disinquish between the types of Hispanic ethnicity, the mother considers herself Spanish. That said, the boy is 1/4 Spanish. If he meets all academic criteria for the scholarship, can he ethically apply as a Hispanic? I know Native Americans can get $ from their tribes if one has 1/4 of Native American blood. I understand a Jewish person is all-Jewish if his mother was Jewish but not all Jewish if she was a Gentile. With these different ways of determining ones ethnicity, should the boy apply as a Hispanic?