While ordinarily good advice, raising your gpa at a CC, this is risky if the goal is to go to another UC campus. UCs limit junior transfers and many don’t allow senior transfers. See the chart at University of California Counselors Furthermore just because they say it is possible doesn’t mean they actually will accept any. Before doing this be sure to contact admissions at the UCs you are considering to find out their current policy.
Why this matters to the OP is the way UCs calculate standing which is by transferable units. As explained in the doc above they take the CC units earned (capped at 105 quarter units no matter how many you have) but then add on all units earned at any UC campus. With 2 years already at UCSC this is going to push the OP into junior or senior standing by units.
Also worth pointing out is that xfer apps were due long ago for the upcoming fall. If the OP stays at UCSC and applies to xfer for fall 2022 the same high-unit issue may be present since they would have completed 3 years worth of UC classes by the time they would xfer.