"honorary student" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It refers to someone who is given an honorary title or recognition as a student, even though they may not have completed all the requirements or coursework. Example: "Jenna was named an honorary student by the university for her dedication to community service, even though she had not officially enrolled in any courses."
Sophomore year was significantly brighter: she signed on as an honorary student spokeswoman for the U.N. World Food Programme, where she met Ellen Gustafson.
He then read law, first at Christ Church, Oxford, of which he became an honorary student in 1990, and then Glasgow University, before being called to the faculty of advocates (the Scottish bar) in 1949.
There was the ceremonial exchange of gifts -- the governor got a Bronx Prep polo shirt and $50 honorary Scholar Dollars, which students earn for good behavior; he gave the school a framed copy of the charter law, and a pen.
(If Brandeis wants to debate its honorary degrees among students, staff and others, it should do so before it awards them in the first place).
He is an honorary member of the student fraternity Marko-Germania zu Pinkafeld, which in its 1994 founding document rejects the "history defying fiction of an 'Austrian nation'".
Liverpool University is to give a former student an honorary degree, 46 years after it expelled him for protesting against apartheid.
And, I recently found this blogpost from Tim DeChant, former grad student and honorary geographer, in which he describes "ghosts of geography".
Michael Nazir-Ali, later Bishop of Rochester and now a leading figure in Muslim-Christian dialogue, was a member of St Ebbe's as a doctoral student, and honorary curate; among undergraduates in the congregation in the 1960s were NT Wright (New Testament theologian and former Bishop of Durham; also an honorary curate) and Chris Sugden (founder of Anglican Mainstream).
In this case the family was celebrating the return of Rebecca, a former exchange student turned honorary Robertson.
Bill Emmott, Former editor of The Economist; Honorary Fellow, Magdalen College, Oxford; Former student, Nuffield College.
I remember him at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, on the occasion of his being given an honorary degree, listening to students telling him about what they got from his work and not allowing them to be interrupted by the French ambassador, who failed in the attempt to barge in and drag him away in the direction of more important guests.
