Washington Sen. Jim Horn proposed the bill last Wednesday.
N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare, one of the state's most influential politicians, recently asked his legislative staff to examine the logistics of implementing a similar income-based tuition scale for the UNC system.
Under Horn's plan, resident undergraduate tuition fees at Washington public universities for the 2002-03 school year would be determined by multiplying a base tuition by a factor dependent on family income.
Horn said the new plan would benefit middle-income families.
"The middle income group is getting squeezed," he said. "Higher-income families can afford to pay the full cost of education, and low-income families are getting grants. The middle income is a forgotten group."
Horn said that under the present system, a family with an annual income of $28,000 receives 100 percent assistance while one with an annual income of $38,000 receives zero percent.
But Horn said he does not expect the bill to pass this year. He added that he is hopeful it will pass in the next session.
"(The bill) will start conversation and dialogue," Horn said. "I want to get the idea out there. People say it is certainly thinking outside the box. I am interested to get a reaction. That was the purpose of putting it out this year."
But Washington Sen. Ken Jacobsen said he does not agree with the proposed bill.