If she has an AAS degree at time of HS graduation, she may be able to finish her Undergrad degree in-state within 2 years. She could then apply for Graduate school in California instead.
Plenty of other colleges besides the UC’s where she could get merit $$ and they make take many of her DE courses for credit that could be more affordable than the UC’s plus reduce her time in the Undergrad program.
I am assuming she is a Junior? There is time to start looking for colleges to apply as a Freshman that would meet her expectations. Large public with good weather sounds like San Diego State which is about $20-25K less expensive than the UC’s. California publics are still pricey for OOS students.
Arizona State and University of Arizona would be good options and with merit substantially less expensive than the UC’s.
Before she considers the Transfer route have her explore other options as a Freshman applicant. What is your college budget? Most OOS public universities will be expensive and many do not offer much merit or need based FA for OOS students.