Otto Scholarship

Dick and Lorayne Otto first met in Auto-Owners’ Underwriting Department in 1951, where they both worked until their retirement. Reflecting on their time with the company, Richard Otto shared, "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."

To give back, the couple established the Dick and Lorayne Otto Scholarship Fund, dedicated to helping dependents of Auto-Owners employees pursue undergraduate education. Since its inception in 2006, the fund has awarded 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.
This is a one-time non-renewable scholarship.
Student applicants must be a senior in high school, or in the last year of a dual-enrollment or early college program.
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 the number of applicants and available funding.

SELECTION COMMITTEE: The fund is administered by the Capital Region Community Foundation located in Lansing, Michigan. 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 will be given a fair and balanced evaluation, based on the established criteria.

HOW TO APPLY: The application period runs from January 1 - March 3, 2025, and is available only through our grant portal GOapply. The student (not the parent) will need to create a GOapply account and password. Applicants will be notified of award or denial by the end of April 2025.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

Academic performance (may include GPA, SAT or ACT scores).
Participation in extracurricular activities–community service, employment, clubs & groups, sports, etc.
Two meaningful letters of recommendation from non-family members. Make sure they are recent and relevant.
Quality and effort in the application and essay answers – proofread and spell check, pay attention to the required character limits.
To a lesser extent, financial need and extenuating life circumstances.

Application deadline is Monday March 3, 2025 by 8:00 pm. Please plan ahead!

Allow enough time to gather the required information which includes your recent high school transcript, an essay, and two reference letters from non-family members. No applications will be accepted after the 8 pm deadline, even in the event of submission errors, so please allow time to ask for assistance if you need it along the way.

To prepare, view the Otto Scholarship Sample Application (this is for review only, do not submit)

The link to the online application will open soon.

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