Pregnant and living in a Melbourne refuge with her toddler after escaping domestic violence, Melissa Bartels was driven to turn her life around.

The 36-year-old from Maroochydore said a little bit of hope and determination led her from a series of bad decisions to moving back home and going back to school.

University of the Sunshine Coast graduate Melissa Bartels and her mother Terry-Anne Mondahl at her graduation ceremony.

Ms Bartels earned a bachelor of criminology and justice with a perfect grade point average of seven and won the University Medal for Academic Excellence as she graduated from the University of the Sunshine Coast.

“I was a runaway at 13. I came from such a good family, so I was a rebel without a cause in the truest form,” she said.