Student managed without current support packs (7)
I believe the answer is:
trainee
'student' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'current support packs' is the wordplay.
'current' becomes 'rain' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'support' becomes 'tee' (tee is a kind of support).
'packs' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are packed inside).
'rain' put into 'tee' is 'TRAINEE'.
'managed without' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for trainee that I've seen before include "Person under instruction" , "Student" , "encountered bad weather in driving area" , "One undergoing instruction" , "Person being taught" .)