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conomic disadvantage does not necessarily limit one'€™s success. This is at least true for Devi Triasari, 24, the daughter of a farm-laborer father and a housemaid and vegetable-seller mother.

Devi was recently named the top law graduate at Sebelas Maret University (UNS) Surakarta, Central Java, after she managed to complete her studies at the university'€™s School of Law with a near perfect GPA of 3.99 out of 4.

Hailing from Ngawi, East Java, Devi earned an '€œA'€ in almost every subject, and only one '€œB'€, during her three-and-a-half-year course.

'€œMy success has everything to do mother'€™s prayers. No matter how busy I was, I quickly understood every subject thanks to her prayers,'€ Devi said at her rickety house in Guyung subdistrict, Gerih district, Ngawi, on Friday.

Devi said that she often filled in for her mother, selling vegetables and tahu bacem (sweet tofu), when her mother was sick. Still, this did not seem to disturb her academic progress.

Devi also said that she was proud that she could finally bring her parents to UNS to attend her graduation on June 13. '€œIt was the first time that my parents saw my campus,'€ she said.

Being the top graduate, Devi has received a number of scholarship offers for postgraduate programs from a range of institutions, including Monash University and Newcastle University, both in Australia.

The dean of UNS'€™ School of Law, Supanto, confirmed this, saying that the offers were made through UNS. '€œIt'€™s now up to Devi to pick one of them,'€ he said.

Devi herself said she wanted to become a lecturer because she likes to teach, and also because being a lecturer would fill her parents'€™ with pride as they themselves, and her two elder siblings, only went as far elementary school.

'€œThis is in fact what has motivated me to get a university education. I hope that what I earn later in life will be able to ease some burden in [my parents'€™] life,'€ Devi said.

Devi recalled that upon completing senior high school in 2010, she could not immediately continue her study and had to work as a secretary at a contractor company in Magetan, East Java, to save money for her university enrollment. Her father, Suwito, and her mother, Karinem, could not afford to assist.

'€œI was aware that I could not continue my study as some of my friends did. Much less than pay for the tuition fee, we could not even pay for the enrollment form,'€ she said.

She added she initially wanted to work as a migrant worker in Japan like almost all the girls in her village did, but, again, she could not pay for the required Japanese language course.

She thought that if she worked overseas she could send money home for her parents to buy rice fields or livestock or to pay to mend their house.

Devi recalled poverty forcing her to spend a night at a mosque and in someone'€™s warehouse when she went to Surakarta for the two-day UNS admission test.

She was grateful that after being accepted into the UNS School of Law she received a scholarship from Bidik Misi, a government-initiated university scholarship program for students from poor families.

The scholarship covered all of Devi'€™s tuition costs and provided a monthly living allowance of Rp 600,000 (US$45). To make the money go further, she shared a room in a dormitory.

'€œI also worked part-time as a tutor and a lecturer'€™s assistant and also sold phone credit so I could send money to my parents,'€ she said.