Exploited special education supplied by university (4)
I believe the answer is:
used
'exploited' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'special education supplied by university' is the wordplay.
'special' becomes 'S' (common abbreviation as in Special Air Service).
'education' becomes 'ed' (abbreviation - e.g. sex ed).
'supplied by' says to put letters next to each other.
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
's'+'ed'='sed'
'sed' put after 'u' is 'USED'.
(Other definitions for used that I've seen before include "exhausted" , "No longer new" , "Brought into service" , "Previously owned by another" , "cast off" .)