Definitely! At the very least some labs where hackers could come and make stuff with Arduino boards or write IRC bots that did crazy, but useless things. All for the sake of learning.
The issue is most people coming from middle class background have big dreams to make money, build a good home and settle down. So the crowd goes where the money is.
Sure there are going to be passionate people, but if its not rewarding sooner or later they are going ask if its worth it.