Beg for new course to cover new ground initially (8)
I believe the answer is:
scrounge
'beg' is the definition.
(scrounging is a kind of begging)
'new course to cover new ground initially' is the wordplay.
'new' indicates an anagram.
'to cover' indicates putting letters inside.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'new ground' is 'ng'.
'course' anagrammed gives 'scroue'.
'scroue' placed around 'ng' is 'SCROUNGE'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for scrounge that I've seen before include "Freeload" , "'Cadge, wheedle (8)'" , "Try to get hold of" , "bum" , "Seek something free from others" .)