a right to go to college

I am somewhat undecided on a statement made in class today that going to college is not a right but rather a privilege. On one hand I feel that going to college is right because it is something that anyone can do (with hard work and effort) however I do understand that privileges are earned (the hard work and effort it takes to go to college). Every individual has the right to go to high school (according to US law it is a requirement until one is 16); even if one school won’t accept an individual, another one must (whether public or private). It is requirement but because anyone can go to almost any school (except private schools in some cases); it is also an undeniable right. College, on the other hand, is not always a right. In some cases, it may be very easy to get into college. Community colleges demand far fewer application requirements than private colleges and even many private colleges will accept students who have dropped out of high school or who had poor grades. I consider going to college a right because anyone can go if they put in the work required to gain admission. The "if", however, is what challenges the idea of college being a right, defining it rather as more of a privilege. If a person has to work in order to gain a right, it is not truly a right. An 18 year old does not have to work to gain the right to vote, they are just allowed to do it. So I suppose I feel that it is a right to apply to college and privilege to attend.
Originally I was highly offended by the idea of saying that going to college is a privilege because I thought only of the element of the definition of privilege that says that a privilege is a gift. I was offended that anyone would say that getting into college is simply a gift; I thought about all the hard work I did to get into college, all the applications to schools and for financial aid--for me, I was not simply gifted with an education, I worked for it. However, I neglected the part of the definition that says that a privilege is a gift that results from effort (good behavior, hard work, etc). The work and effort I put in to get into college was rewarded with admission; I was therefore privileged and given the right to an education that cannot be taken away from me unless I do something to force the administrators to take it away from me.