Rising tuition costs—not to mention that the national student loan interest rate just doubled—are leaving many American families wondering if it’s even possible to fund a college education anymore. Legislators in Oregon may have an innovative solution, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A new plan, dubbed “Pay it Forward, Pay it Back,” would give students the opportunity to attend public Oregon universities for free. In exchange, the students would promise to give back 3 percent of their salaries every year for 24 years after graduation. That money would go into a special fund that would, in turn, provide a free college ride to a new crops of students. The plan’s designers hope the fund will eventually become self-sustaining.

The program isn’t going into action yet—Oregon’s Senate and House of Representatives only passed a bill that simply creates a pilot program. It won’t be until 2015 that the state decides whether or not to implement the plan. Meanwhile, legislators in Washington, New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and California are interested in the idea, too, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The question remains of how many students would choose to partake in a program like this. As someone who knows what it’s like to shoulder the financial burden of a pricey college education—I went to a well-known, private university with the sky-high bills to match—the idea of free tuition and avoiding loans sounds unbelievably tempting. But I also happened to fall in love with a career—journalism—that’s known for lower-than-average salary prospects. Giving up a percentage of annual income, however small, for more than two decades wouldn’t be an easy decision to make.

What do you think? Would you take part in a “Pay it Forward, Pay it Back” program?