Minard Run Oil Contribution
Benefits Area High School Students

Minard Run Oil Co. has made a $25,000 contribution to the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford that will allow more high school students to take advantage of a program that allows them to earn college credit at minimal cost.

The contribution is made possible through a tax credit program offered by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

This is the second year Minard Run has taken advantage of the program.

“We’re happy to make this investment to allow students to have the opportunity to bridge their education to a potentially greater future,” said Frederick Fesenmyer, owner, president and chief executive officer of Minard Run Oil.

Pitt-Bradford has two programs in which students can earn both high school and college credits for the same course, BRIDGES and College in the High School. Both programs will benefit from Minard Run’s contribution.

In the BRIDGES program, high school students attend Pitt-Bradford classes on campus with regular college students. In College in the High School, which Pitt-Bradford now offers in 21 high schools throughout the region, qualified teachers teach Pitt-Bradford courses during regular school time, and students are able to earn college credit.

Contributions provided last year through Minard Run and other local businesses allowed Pitt-Bradford to add new districts to the College in the High School program this fall, including Brookville, Forest, Kane, Port Allegany, Oil City, Johnsonburg and three more high schools in Warren Area School District.

Unlike the Advanced Placement exam, which requires that students make a final score on an AP test at the end of the semester or year, College in the High School students follow the same syllabus as the students at Pitt-Bradford, cover the same material and take the same final exam. Students have the added benefit of studying a semester’s worth of college material over the course of an entire academic year.

Last year, 429 students took 712 courses at 12 high schools through College in the High School. Courses offered range from first-year math and composition to more specialized first-year courses such as petroleum technology, cinema, geography, Spanish, accounting, sociology and more. The additional funding provided by Minard Run and other local businesses has allowed Pitt-Bradford to offer the classes for $25 each.

In the BRIDGES program there are currently 20 students enrolled in 30 on-campus courses.

Minard Run made its contribution through the special state program that allows it to receive tax credits for its gift. Companies have to pre-qualify with the state on a strict schedule, as did Pitt-Bradford.

Interested businesses that must pay certain types of taxes in the state of Pennsylvania may qualify to redirect up to $750,000 of their PA tax liability to an approved Educational Improvement Organization such as Pitt-Bradford. The taxes include Corporate Net Income Tax, Capital Stock Franchise Tax, Bank and Trust Company Shares Tax, Title Insurance Company Shares Tax, Insurance Premiums Tax, Mutual Thrift Institutions Tax and some Subchapter S-corporations.

For more information on whether a business may qualify for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program, contact Rick Esch, vice president of business affairs at Pitt-Bradford, at (814)362-0992 or esch@pitt.edu.

Pictured, Frederick Fesenmyer, left, owner, president and chief executive officer of Minard Run Oil, talking with Dr. Livingston Alexander, president of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, at an event on campus last week. Minard Run has made a $25,000 contribution to Pitt-Bradford that benefits area high school students.
Pitt-Bradford photo

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