Intro
When I first started this game, I flew a Viper and could generate the ISK for about one Viper per match. Knowing how EVE works, I figured my income would increase. Turns out, there is no real way of scaling income. The system I'm proposing would kill two birds with one stone; income will increase over time, and new players will not be protostomped the instant they step out of the Instant Battle Academy.

How are we gonna do it?
Imagine the current academy being replaced by a 5 level system. For those of you who have played EVE, this mocks the leveled system of missions.

When a new character is created, they are only able to enter level 1 battles (just like the current academy). After 10K WP, they are able to queue for level 2 battles. Level 2 battles have better pay, but obviously the competition is a little bit tougher. If you don't feel like you're ready for it, you can still queue for level 1 battles, but you won't make as much money. At 50K WP, you are eligible to enter level 3 battles. To save the newberries, no player eligible for levels 3-5 will be able to enter a level 1 batte. Here's the level/WP requirement/reward overview:
Level 1: <10K WP, ~20K ISK reward (>50K WP ineligible for this queue)
Level 2: 10-50K WP, ~100K ISK reward
Level 3: 50-200K WP, ~500K ISK reward
Level 4: 200-800K WP, ~2.5M ISK reward
Level 5: >800K WP, ~12.5M ISK reward

What about gear prices?
Now, 12.5M ISK may seem steep, but there are a few caveats here. Mainly, gear prices must be scaled. This is mainly so that top end players are discouraged from jumping into a lower tier battle. The average fitting would cost as follows:
Militia: 0-1K ISK
Standard: ~5K ISK
Advanced: ~50K ISK
Prototype: ~500K ISK

As you can see, if a player in fully advanced gear joins a level 2 battle and dies twice, he has already lost all potential money he could make for that match. Also, gear prices go up about tenfold for each tier. That is the mechanic that protects our newberries. No, it won't stop a rich player with proto gear from joining level 2 battles, but he won't receive much of a monetary reward from it. If 12.5M ISK still seems like a high number to make in 20 minutes, remember that an EVE player running a C6 site can make a billion ISK in a few hours.

This proposal probably needs its numbers tweaked substantially, but it's a start. I've played pretty regularly since the day this game went to open beta, and I'm just now at 500K WP. I haven't researched much on WP vs. SP, and I'm a dropship pilot so my view of the world is a little messed up in the first place.

Feel free to throw in your own ideas.

TL;DR Create a tiered academy where you can progressively join more rewarding battles.