Ask HN: Thoughts on Google Summer of Code?

Summer of code sounds interesting (even though it may not pay very much). I would love to be able to work on an open source project such as Processing or Inkscape while still being able to support myself, but I'm left wondering a few things.

Is it worth it? Are there better uses of a student's summer?

Also, is it right for me? I'm an interactive multimedia major, not a computer science major. I'm more experienced with the interactive elements (such as websites, UI toolkits, and games) than with low-level algorithms.

I'm a 3rd year university student, if that has any impact.