CC613, my understanding is that in BMG (Lakewood), at some point they all seem to gain the honorific Rabbi even though they do not (nearly all) neither have semicha nor have even studied Y”D at all.
As to this practice at the unnamed institutions you discuss, I don’t see what’s wrong with learning Yoreh Deah at night and receiving “semicha” if you pass a legit test on Y”D. That doesn’t make you qualified to refer to, say, Rav Dovid Feinstein, by his first name, but that also doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to use that honorific in recognition of your mastery of Y”D.
Unless you propose that “Rabbi” be used only for those in the rabbinate/chinuch, it is already used for every guy at BMG once they reach a certain point. So anyone who passes a legit test on Y”D deserves that honorific, for what it’s worth.