Grim and unhappy maids facing student (6)
I believe the answer is:
dismal
'grim' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'unhappy maids facing student' is the wordplay.
'unhappy' is an anagram indicator.
'facing' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'student' becomes 'l' (as in L-plates for learner drivers).
'maids' is an anagram of 'disma'.
'disma'+'l'='DISMAL'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for dismal that I've seen before include "dark" , "Miserable" , "not a cheerful outlook ..." , "Depressing; dreary" , "Dreary, cheerless" .)