Fail with things at college (7)

I believe the answer is:

stuffup

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'fail' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'with things at college' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'things' becomes 'stuff' (I've seen this before).
'at college' becomes 'up' ('up' can mean at university).
'stuff'+'up' is 'STUFFUP'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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