Praise for a couple of colleges in Alabama getting the point of the exercise (7)
I believe the answer is:
acclaim
'praise' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'colleges in alabama getting the point of the exercise' is the wordplay.
'colleges' becomes 'cc' (the abbreviation for cent written twice).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'alabama' becomes 'al'.
'getting' says to put letters next to each other.
'the point of the exercise' becomes 'aim' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'cc' placed within 'al' is 'accl'.
'accl'+'aim'='ACCLAIM'
'for a couple of' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acclaim that I've seen before include "Salute, applaud" , "Credit" , "Hail" , "Welcome with shouts of approval" , "Declare" .)