For many students, the cost of attending a higher education institution is one of the main deciding factors. Northwestern State University of Louisiana alumni recognize this hurdle and attempt to ease the financial burden by establishing scholarships for students.

The Lott Oil family company has supported many efforts of the university to improve both the academic and athletic programs at NSU.

The Lott Oil Company is a family-owned company based in Natchitoches that operates comprehensive fuel and lubricant distribution centers throughout Louisiana’s central and northern regions.

Camille Lott, director of marketing for Lott Oil, explained the connection her family has to NSU.
“My father, who is the second generation of Lott Oil, actually attended NSU, and, truly, that’s where our love for the university came from,” Lott said.

The Lott family’s connection to NSU has led them to show their support for the college.

“It’s been something we have enjoyed supporting over the years,” Lott said. “NSU does so much for the community that we feel — our whole family feels — that it is extremely important to support the university.”

Originally, the Lott Oil Company supported the university primarily through efforts toward the NSU Athletic program. The family has sponsored events such as Shop A Lott tailgates and the Shop A Lott shuffle played during football games. They also offer a sponsorship for all individual sports teams and coaches at NSU.

“Each year we do a big sponsorship with the athletic program that is just a good way to give back to those individual sports,” Lott said. “This way it is spread out fairly amongst the teams, and not only one team is benefitting.”

Lott explained that her family’s support for NSU originally only came to fruition through these efforts toward athletics, but has changed since then.

“Then, we started the memorial foundation scholarship in my grandfather’s memory to give back to the academic side as well,” Lott said. “We are trying to promote the school as a whole — not just single out a team or program.”

In 2017, the Lott family collaborated with the NSU Alumni Foundation to create the Luther W. Lott Sr. Memorial Scholarship.

Jill Bankston, director of alumni and development for the NSU Foundation, explained most NSU foundation scholarships are not state budgets but are from sponsors such as the Lott family.

“The NSU Foundation Scholarships are privately established by donors, alumni and stakeholders,” Bankston said.

Bankston explained that donors have control over the recipients of their scholarship.

“The criteria is specified by the donor and varies from majors, grade point average (gpa), classifications, etc,” Bankston said.

The Lott Oil Scholarship was designed by the family to be a four-year scholarship for a full-time student at NSU who is also a dependent of a Lott Oil employee. Typically, the recipient will be one whose parent or guardian is an employee of Lott Oil Company.

“Any employee employed under Lott Oil, which includes Shop A Lott and Lott Gaming Divisions, just has to be a full-time employee that has a child or dependent attending Northwestern State and they can apply for the memorial scholarship,” Lott said.

The most recent recipient of the Lott Oil scholarship was Chloe Hudson. She is the daughter of Allen Hudson who has worked at Lott Oil Company for five years as a Shop A Lott retail operations manager.

Hudson is a freshman communication major and shared that she is grateful to receive this aid.

“This scholarship has helped me tremendously in covering my tuition fees and has taken a large load off of what I needed to pay to attend NSU,” Hudson said. “It feels really good not having to stress about some of the costs of college.”

The Lott Oil Memorial scholarship also requires that the recipient remains a full-time student with a cumulative GPA above 2.5.

“I think part of what made me a good candidate for the scholarship was all of my extracurriculars, community involvement and my GPA throughout high school,” Hudson said.

She advised other students looking for ways to help relieve the cost of college to apply for foundation scholarships.

“I filled out many scholarship forms, and, while I may not have received them all, I did end up receiving one in the end. It just took time and patience,” Hudson said.

Any eligible student can apply for the Lott Oil scholarship, apply for other scholarships on the Alumni section of the NSU website and fill out the Foundation Scholarship form.

Bankston also shared the Lott family’s other efforts toward academics and student financial aid at NSU.

“More recently, the Lott Oil Family created the “Giving Pump” where the proceeds from Pump #1 at the Shop A Lott (Chevron) at 620 South Drive, Natchitoches will support the NSU Foundation and the students we serve each day,” Bankston said.

As a parent company of Shop A Lott, Lott Oil created the “Giving Pump” and opened it for public use on May 6, 2024; they ensured all proceeds would go towards the NSU Foundation.

The Lott family has since continued to support scholarships and university needs through proceeds from the “Giving Pump.” Since the installation of Pump #1, there has been a 22-23% increase in sales, the family said.

Through efforts such as the “Giving Pump,” the Lott family continues to show their support for NSU. Their contributions have helped enhance the academic and athletic experience of NSU students, and it is clear that the Lott family remains a vital contributor to the foundation.