Well, if you're looking at California, University of California at Davis is your best bet. It's right next door to Sacramento, so there's plenty to do, plus Tahoe is only 1.5 hrs away. And the coldest it gets in Davis in the winter is 40 degrees (read: no snow). Davis is known for its wine making, vetrinary, and aggricultural departments.
Also, most Southern California schools (such as UCLA, UCSD, SDSU, UCSB, USC) have ski teams that commute to Mammoth almost every weekend. I go to UCSB and go to Mammoth all the time, and it's great.
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It's all gravy.