Given the number of people paid full-time to work on open source, I don't think the "you shouldn't need to be paid to work on open source" argument works at all

Given the number of people paid full-time to work on open source, I don't think the "you shouldn't need to be paid to work on open source" argument works at all. Again, they need to be paid to learn this stuff? Yes. You could think of it as sort of an internship. Most colleges do not cover the sort of stuff you need in the real world -- I know mine doesn't, so GSoC was invaluable for me. (disclosure: I was a GSoC student in 2008)