Mary McLeod Bethune was determined to see her dreams of educating Black Americans to fruition, even if it meant supplying the fruit herself.

Bethune and her students sold pies and fish sandwiches to local construction crews to finance their fledgling school for girls in Daytona Beach, Fla. Their entrepreneurial instincts supported the formation and expansion of what became Bethune-Cookman University.

More than a century later, historically Black college and university leaders are hearkening Bethune’s example to move their institutions from a model of tuition-dependency to opening alternative revenue streams that will ensure their institutions’ financial future.

“HBCUs are heavily tuition-dependent,” says Dr. Marybeth Gasman, a University of Pennsylvania higher education historian. “When enrollment goes down, the schools are vulnerable. They serve some of the neediest students in the country who have a difficult time paying. It’s great to have other revenue sources.”

With most of higher education grappling with the effects of a weak economy, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) explored ways that under-resourced HBCUs can gain financial independence at a session at its annual conference in Washington, D.C., last month.

Discussants identified economic development, alumni giving and online education as areas where HBCUs can strengthen their financial security, grow their endowments and expand their student base.

It’s not just financial solvency at stake. Dr. John Wilson, executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs, says these institutions must be innovative and entrepreneurial to compete.

“There is a lot more competition for our students, and we need to pay attention. Half of all African-American students are being educated at community colleges. The competition is stiffer, so schools need to be more innovative,” Wilson says, noting that HBCUs “would do well to tap (into the online) market” of students that has served the University of Phoenix so well.