State requiring a student with a couple of degrees (7)
I believe the answer is:
alabama
'state' is the definition.
(Alabama is an example)
'a student with a couple of degrees' is the wordplay.
'a couple of degrees' means two replacements for 'degree'.
'a student with' becomes 'ala' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'degree' becomes 'ba' (Bachelor of Arts).
'degree' becomes 'ma' (Master of Arts is a type of degree).
'ala'+'ba'+'ma'='ALABAMA'
'requiring' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alabama that I've seen before include "Somewhere in US" , "Southern American state" , "US state known as the Heart of Dixie" , "US state, capital Montgomery" , "SE US state" .)