alt Hacker NewsGSoC 4 years ago removed the need for their to be actual students to apply. We got flooded with middle aged men working 9-5s applying. It was dumb and we stopped participating. Their incentives were literally "extra income" instead of learning or participating beyond that.
But that sounds rewarding for the applicants, and the project?? The project gets code, and the guys get some money.
Being a middle aged man working 9 to 5, I would enjoy contributing to a project I was interested in rather than the boring job at work.
Are you saying you only wanted penniless youngsters to contribute, based entirely on their idealism?