Yes, the Student Version has access to all of the same functions. The Student Version has the restriction that Simulink models can contain no more than 1000 blocks, and that reports will have a watermark "Student".
I am finding the functions ldpcenc() and ldpcdec() to be missing. Is this expected?
Yes, it is expected. The Communications toolbox has never had functions of that name.
R2006b introduced fec.ldpcenc . R2012b introduced comm.LDPCEncoder and R2016a removed fec.ldpcenc
If you look at the example https://www.mathworks.com/help/comm/ug/estimate-ldpc-performance-in-awgn.html you will see that it starts
ldpcEnc = comm.LDPCEncoder;
ldpcDec = comm.LDPCDecoder;
Notice that ldpcEnc or ldpcenc are not functions of their own: they are variables that have been assigned something.
