I'm getting it off easy, in a sense, since I've already gotten my graduation present; no student loans. Got 4 years of prepaid higher education, anything after that is on my own account. So I know what it's like to feel that you need to do something to pay your folks back, either in work, good grades, or just repayment.
Do you know if you school has something like a symposium, or art gallery? If they do, you could have an entry for that as a term, or even year, long project. I did one for my schools last year, and I plan on doing one this year, and it was an interesting experience; saw a lot of cool stuff about medical technology and historical analysis (my school has a large focus on nursing and medicine, with some art stuff on the side). So if you can or are able, I do suggest doing something like that it it's available; if for anything, it looks good on a resume.