The qualitative study involved twelve students at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) who involuntarily lost jobs and as a result, made the decision to attend college. Study participants were students with no postsecondary credential beyond high school, and in most cases, had no intentions of attending college until they lost their jobs. Students dealing with involuntary job loss and attending schools typically balance several stressful situations in addition to the job losses. The purpose of the study was to examine the perspectives of the students on their resilience and their abilities to be successful at FVTC. Participants were selected from a pool of 232 dislocated workers who were attending college and receiving federal tuition benefits from area workforce development agencies as of September 2012. Twelve students were selected from four different categories of progress toward associate degrees based on the numbers of credits earned. Participants were asked to take the Resilience Scale in order to identify their levels of resilience, and the scores were used during the interviews for comparison with their perceptions of their own resilience levels. The questions guiding the research included: 1) what were the perceptions that students had about their own resilience, including levels, origins, and applications at FVTC? and 2) what roles did FVTC services, staff and faculty have in fostering and applying their resilience? Increased understanding of resilience and the ways that FVTC services, faculty and staff either foster or hinder student resilience has important implications for improving the future experiences of dislocated workers at FVTC and two-year colleges nationwide. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]