Hackneyed college stuff maybe is something not seen in the real world (7)
I believe the answer is:
unicorn
'is something not seen in the real world' is the definition.
(imaginary creature)
'hackneyed college stuff' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'college' could be 'uni' (short for university) and 'uni' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'corn' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'maybe' is the link.
(Other definitions for unicorn that I've seen before include "Imaginary white horse with long horn" , "Fabulous creature" , "Fabulous one-horned animal" , "Mythical white horse with one horn" , "Animal of fable" .)