There is nothing worse than building a PCB for your senior design project, testing it, and realizing it doesn't work because you didn't account for crosstalk or dielectric loss. With HFSS, you can simulate your PCB traces, connectors, and antennas before you send the gerber files to the fab house. You can catch design errors that are invisible in schematic capture tools.
The HFSS Student Version is not a replacement for a research or industry license, but it is an exceptional educational tool. Its limitations (20 objects, 2,000 meshes, 10 GHz) prevent professional product development but are perfectly aligned with the scope of undergraduate coursework and master’s level introductory projects. Students who master the student version can transition to the full version with an understanding of meshing and boundary conditions, only needing to learn scaling, not fundamentals. It is highly recommended for any RF curriculum. hfss student version