yangumanenot that there's anything wrong with that
Take a year off. Take two, but be realistic with yourself about what you hope to accomplish with skiing.
Heads up, this is a long answer...
I went straight into university after high school. I ended up studying at the University of Calgary, where the drinking age is 18 and the ski club has 4000 members/partiers. My first impression was that it would be awesome, in hindsight I was wrong. I was all caught up in this 'status' thing about rocking straight into university, I had great grades in highschool, and I thought that that automatically translated to the next step.
I loved (love) skiing, but at that point I was no sponsor prospect, and as I said, college was on brain.
But man I was not ready! within a month I lost the 'passion' for going to classes, and wasted my time with sleeping in and partying. I ended up dropping out after the first year, and that was discouraging as fuck, and expensive. But you want to know the one best thing bout that year? I got my stoke on for skiing:) I found out that I was the best skier in the Uni Ski Club, and started thinking about entering the Red Mountain or Lake Louise Big Mountain comps.
When I flunked out the next summer, I really didn't know what to do with myself. I got a job at a sports store, pro-dealed some skis and some new gear, and fucked around until the snow fell in october and I moved back home to Red Mountain.
I got a last minute job as a liftie, and skied everyday. It was awesome! I started building jumps again, dropping cliffs, and getting upside down on every jump and lip I could find. I found a new crew to ski with through work, and really shined.
I ski bummed for the next three years, did the whistler thing for a season, and competed in Big mountain comps from Revy to Snow Bird. Never got around to learning too many park tricks, but stomped some double backs and broke some skis.
But I wasn't really going anywhere with it.. my friends through comps got sponsored, and while I got some free skis I never made it onto any teams bigger than the local boardshop. still, 100+ day seasons and plenty of stoke is nothing to shake your head at! At the end of the 4th season I felt like the oldest guy in town, and at 22 while everyone else my age was finishing their bachelors... I probably was.
So I went back to school, and now I am writing this post while in the last crunch of finishing my bachelors thesis. I've continued to hit up a few big mountain comps, and I blew my ACL pretending to be a park rat last january. All in all, I really value the years that I spent bumming. Every turn, cliff, spin and flip were worth it. 4 seasons with literally NO money also made me desperate for more.
DON'T go to school right away. Take a year and ski. You'll delay that tuition cost, and have fun while doing it. But be realistic as well. In hindsight I took too many years off, keep the dream going, but be a little bit real.
*edit, college of the rockies, don't you need to establish state residency to go there with in-state tuition? the smartest thing to do then would be to ski and live in colorado for a year and apply to school as a resident next year.
Whatever you do you'll have fun bud, but honestly, take that year off and treat yourself right, there's no reason to rush school, you'll live till you're 80 for fucks sake, by then this rush will all be relative