Sweet student, American, beginning to consolidate debts (8)
I believe the answer is:
luscious
'sweet' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'student american beginning to consolidate debts' is the wordplay.
'student' becomes 'L' (as in L-plates for learner drivers).
'american' becomes 'US' (United States).
'beginning to' indicates taking the first letters.
'debts' becomes 'IOUs' (promises to pay debts).
The first letter of 'consolidate' is 'c'.
'l'+'us'+'c'+'ious'='LUSCIOUS'
(Other definitions for luscious that I've seen before include "Pleasingly rich and sweet" , "Highly attractive, tasty" , "'Delicious, scrumptious (8)'" , "Richly sweet" , "Juicy" .)