Educational resilience is studied in a capability poverty and marginalization context; it is an emotional component that intervenes in effective decision-making and has an impact on the academic lives of students. The concepts of “capability poverty” and “marginalization” are defined from a multidisciplinary standpoint, and educational resilience is used to pinpoint the importance of the emotional component in the fulfillment of academic achievement. Data was extracted from three surveys performed in 2005, 2010 and 2015 respectively; four student groups were selected through participant observation; case selection was performed again to apply a questionnaire encompassing expectations, motivations, experiences and academic results. Resilience is observed in university graduation processes, as it contributes to a feeling of self-worth and competence development when writing a dissertation and defending it using academic language.