Otto Scholarship

Richard and Lorayne Otto are both former Auto-Owners Group employees. When they established their scholarship fund, they knew exactly who they wanted to help.

Dick and Lorayne met in the Auto-Owners Underwriting Department in 1951. They both worked there until they retired. "During the many years of association and employment, we have received many blessings from Auto-Owners and wanted to do something for the company that has given us so much", Richard Otto said.

Since 2006, the fund has granted more than $900,000 in scholarships!

WHO MAY APPLY:
 

Legal dependents of Auto Owners Insurance Group employees (not affiliates) are eligible to apply for this scholarship. The employee must be in good standing as verified by the HR department. It is not required that applicants live in the Lansing area to qualify.

• Student applicant must be a senior in high school, or the last year of an early college program. Students currently in dual-enrollment or early college programs may also apply.
• This is a one-time non-renewable scholarship.
• Student must plan to enroll full time at an accredited educational institution in the United States.

SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS:

Award amounts are typically up to $3,000 per award, depending on a variety of criteria. Students are assessed on their academic performance, extracurricular activities, goals and aspirations, the effort put into the quality of their application and essays, and to a lesser extent, family financial need and/or extenuating circumstances.

HOW TO APPLY:

First review the Guidelines and Instructions. Application period is January 1 - March 1, 2025, available only through our grant portal GOapply. The student (not the parent) will need to create a GOapply account and password.

Link to GOapply application portal

Application deadline is March 1, 2025 by 8:00 p.m. Please plan ahead! Allow enough time to gather the required information which includes your recent high school transcript, a 400-600 word essay, and two reference letters from non-family members. No applications can be accepted after the 8PM deadline, even for submission errors, so please allow time to ask for assistance if you need it along the way. Applicants will be notified by the end of April of 2025.

SELECTION COMMITTEE:
 

The Otto Scholarship Selection Committee consists of 8-12 independent reviewers with no conflict of interest with Auto-Owners or its employees.

It is the intent of the scholarship committee that all applications submitted for review will be given a fair and balanced evaluation, based on the established criteria.

If you have questions about the Otto Scholarship, please contact scholarship coordinator Tracy Russman at 517-927-7729 or trussman@ourcommunity.org.