Supply college over a short academic period (5)
I believe the answer is:
cater
'supply' is the definition.
(catering is a kind of supplying)
'college over a short academic period' is the wordplay.
'college' becomes 'c'.
'over' says to put letters next to each other.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'academic period' becomes 'term' (I've seen this before).
'term' with its final letter taken away is 'ter'.
'c'+'a'+'ter'='CATER'
(Other definitions for cater that I've seen before include "Provide for, supply" , "Supply food for parties" , "Provide goods or services for" , "Trace (anag.)" , "Supply food and drink" .)