Cockney maybe scoffed about university causing stress (10)
I believe the answer is:
accentuate
'stress' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'cockney maybe scoffed about university' is the wordplay.
'cockney maybe' becomes 'accent' (Cockney accent).
'scoffed' becomes 'ate' ('to scoff' is to eat).
'about' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'university' becomes 'U' (abbreviation for university).
'ate' after 'u' is 'uate'.
'accent'+'uate'='ACCENTUATE'
'causing' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for accentuate that I've seen before include "Draw attention to" , "Stress" , "Make more prominent" , "Emphasise" .)