From I have heard from our art director, I think there is something that is embedded in the files that identifies where it came from, i.e. student version. Therefore, we have operated under the presumption that using the student version for commercial purposes is a violation even if it is only used for exporting. After all, even if just exporting, you are still using the program.
That being said, you could use the student version in the meantime. Just know that before you make things public you should re-export them with a legal commercial copy of max to ensure your asset files have the embedded data identifying them as legal. But you wouldn't need that, yet, while still only using them in-house.