LR3 Student & Teacher (never installed, but have boxed product) Upgrade to LR5 Regular (non-student) Edition. See Details

The only problem I see is that since you never installed Lightroom 3, you probably didn't go through the process of proving your eligibility for academic pricing. So you don't have the serial number for Lightroom 3. All you have is the code that needs to be submitted along with other documents proving your eligibility. And you need the Lightroom 3 serial number in order to install a Lightroom 5 upgrade. So I don't know if you would be able to work with the upgrade or not. I rather suspect not.

I don't think you can upgrade from an educational version to a full version. It's not like for like

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"I don't think you can upgrade from an educational version to a full version. It's not like for like"

Upgrades from the student version is the same as the full version. The software is identical you have just been granted a License Key at a discounted price. The license key will function just as a normal license key.

Jim's post above sums up the situation.

It's your choice, but I would point out that he's talking about all versions, not licences. You can upgrade from LR3 student to LR5 student, or from LR3 full to LR5 full. Each upgrade path has the same software, but a different licence.

As I say, it's your choice

You will not find a LR Student Upgrade? If you own LR 3 which you purchased as a student license it will upgrade just fine to LR 5. See the Adobe site for updates all versions and you will not find a "Student" download.

Adobe - Lightroom : For Windows

When a student purchases a full version they get to purchase the license key at a discounted price. Thereafter you get to upgrade to a new version at the regular upgrade price. If you are still a student you can qualify to purchase another License Key at a discounted price but you can expect to pay the same cost as the regular upgrade.

My understanding is different:  There is no upgrade path TO a student version, only an upgrade path FROM a student version, so you can upgrade FROM LR3 S&T or LR3 Regular to LR5 Regular, but there is no upgrade TO a LR 5 S&T. 

Adobe discounts S&T versions and they discount upgrades, they just don’t double-discount.

No, it is not student->student or regular->regular. If you qualify for the academic pricing you only need to buy the academic version once. From that point on, paid upgrades are the same price. There is no special pricing for an upgrade from an academic license to a regular license.

I purchased Lightroom 4 as an academic version. The price was $79 at the bookstore on campus. When Lightroom 5 was released, I purchased the upgrade (NOT an academic version) online from Adobe for $79.

Purchase Lightroom initially at the best price you can depending on your situation and what you qualify for. From that point forward you can always upgrade at the standard upgrade price.

The message that I am trying to convey in my messages is once you have purchased your full license key is "Your product is Licensed, the software download is the same program, there are no difference or limitations of the program's functions." You are now the owner of a fully functional License Key for Lightroom. Including the upgrade path.

The only difference is the price you have paid.

That's what I was trying to say. But you said it a lot better than I did.

We concur then.

penderra wrote:

 

It's your choice, but I would point out that he's talking about all versions, not licences. You can upgrade from LR3 student to LR5 student, or from LR3 full to LR5 full. Each upgrade path has the same software, but a different licence.

As I say, it's your choice

You are incorrect.

Upgrade from an Lr 3 student license to Lr 5 is no problem and the same cost and procedure as any upgrade.

Student pricing is available on original purchases only and there are no student upgrades.

Ok