Ha, so much bad advice in here. Below is all from my firsthand experience.
If you're planning on working, go to Truckee or somewhere in the foothills like Rocklin (only an hour from the mountains and it has Sierra College, which is a sick junior college that I went to).
The best school that is reasonably close to skiing is UC Davis, I went to high school in Davis and it rarely took me longer than 2 hours to get to Tahoe. Maybe an extra 15 minutes to get to Squaw or Alpine. However, UCs right now are severely underfunded and are cutting back student enrollment, so unless you have higher than a 4.0 GPA, forget about it. They do have a guaranteed admission deal with the california junior colleges, but you'll have to go to JC for two years before you can transfer, which in the end will be well worth it with all the money you'll save. However, UC Davis party scene is marginal at best. Lots of asians.
Chico State is another option. Chico kind of blows, but there are a lot of parties, the school pretty much blows as well. Its about the same distance from the slopes as Davis.
I'll also let you in on another fact, Riverside fucking sucks. You're in the California desert, and you're at least an hour or more from the beach when you factoring in traffic. It has all the negatives of southern california with none of the positives. You're two hours or more from slush at Bear Moutain, and 6 hours from Mammoth.
San Diego is an awesome place, but you'll have to pretty much give up skiing unless you find people to take week long trips to mammoth with you. Girls in San Diego are hot as well. UCSD is right on the water, and San Diego State is 10 min inland, both fun schools to go to.
UC Santa Cruz kind of sucks too in my opinion. Go there if you want to be around lots of do-nothing kids with no real direction in life. The school is basically a giant arboretum up in the hills, about 10-15 minutes from the SC beaches. Most girls in Santa Cruz are broke. However, if you are good at surfing you'll have a good time there. Also, weed is practically legal here.
UC Santa Barbara is definitely the sickest UC. Its smack dab in Isla Vista, literally right on the ocean. Isla Vista is basically a community made for partying, makes Chico's parties look shitty. Again, you're skiing will be very limited, but you'll have an awesome college experience. Hot girls everywhere. The city of Santa Barbara is also a beautiful place. On the same note, Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo is only an hour north of SB, and only 15 min from Pismo Beach, which is sick. San Luis Obisbo isn't quite Isla Vista, but I've been to some sick parties there as well. A lot of hot girls at Cal Poly.
Cal Berkeley is a great school, still driveable to the mountains, but very tough to get into. Berkeley has its own vibe to it that isn't for everyone, get used to hipster kids and lots of asians. Also, the girls are even more bunk then the ones at Santa Cruz. Party scene is about the same as Davis, you'll be going to frat parties, which I dislike.
You should also look into University of Oregon if you're moving out west. Its cheaper than the UCs and there is a much better chance of getting in as a freshman. You could try working in Bend for a year, which is only 20-30 minutes from Bachelor, and establish residency. Residency tuition is pretty cheap up here.
