While you can import CAD (STEP, IGES), the Student edition has a :
The most significant restriction facing users of ANSYS Student is the limitation on model size, specifically regarding mesh density and node counts. In simulation, the accuracy of results is often directly correlated to the fineness of the mesh. The student version imposes hard limits on the number of nodes and elements—for instance, typically capping structural mechanics problems at roughly 32,000 nodes or 128,000 elements. While sufficient for simple cantilever beams or basic flow problems, this limit is rapidly exhausted when attempting to simulate complex geometries or capture intricate stress concentrations, such as those found in gear teeth or intricate electronic cooling channels. Consequently, students are often forced to simplify their models or rely on coarser meshes that may not capture critical data, teaching them the valuable yet frustrating lesson of balancing computational cost with numerical accuracy. ansys student limitations