A perpetual student or career student is either a college or university attendee who either pursues multiple terminal degrees or re-enrolls for several years more than is necessary to obtain a given degree.
For the first category, perpetual students might publish or work in several fields and are often considered polymaths.[1]
As for the second category, as early as 1545, Christoph Stymmelius in his play Studentes explore the concept of students who go off to university and instead of being diligent in their studies engage in debauchery.