The youth, who placed third in the Physics Championship for Central and Eastern Indonesia and first in an Eastern Bali English speech contest, said none of his four older siblings had gone on to receive a higher education. "I want to be the first in my family to finish university," he said.

Alit's story is not a unique one in Bali. A lot of bright and high-achieving students are on the verge of losing their chance for higher education due to economic problems. Ni Wayan Mawar Sari, 15, lost six of her siblings due to illness and lives in a small house with her parents and five of her surviving siblings in Klungkung regency. Always a good student, she dreams of becoming a doctor or teacher but says she doesn't know where she would obtain the funds; her parents are poor farmers.

Elan Merdy, chief operating officer of the Sampoerna Foundation, a non-profit education organization, said that even though Bali ranked relatively high (15th) in the Human Development Index, numbers of those completing higher education was still low. According to data from the Central Statistic Agency, as of March 2007, with a population of 2.4 million, Bali had some 229,000 poor people.

Alit and Mawar, however, are better off than others. They were recently chosen for a new scholarship program of cable television ASTRO Entertainment. About 50 tenth-graders from Buleleng, Bangli, Karangasem and Klungkung regencies, along with 20 undergraduate students from Bali, were the first-ever recipients of the scholarship. A total of US$1.5 million was received by the students collectively who were honored in a ceremony Saturday at SMU 4 Denpasar high school.

ASTRO Entertainment's executive director Zainir Aminullah said the company would be giving scholarships to 725 high school students and 160 university students in Bali over five years. The company is also planning to make awards to 5,000 students throughout Indonesia within 3 years and 10,000 students over a 10-year period.

Elan said the selection process for making awards was strict. "Besides financial background and academic achievement, we also consider social awareness." Zainir said the scholarships should go to students who would be able to bring about changes that would make Bali and Indonesia a better place.

IBG Arditya Hardaya, 18, a freshman at the University of Indonesia majoring in computer science, wants to get a masters degree and then go back to Bali. "I want to come back home and develop a computer business here," he said. "As a scholarship recipient I understand that I have a responsibility to the community."