PSU branch campuses like Erie are the equivalent to community colleges in California for the purpose of preparing to transfer to the four year universities. So you would be just paying more for what is essentially the same thing in another state.
In any case, among the CSUs, some historically admitted transfer students with lower than a 3.0 GPA, so the risk is lower than spending more with a 3.0 GPA requirement out of state. Examples:
http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultstransfer/index.html (for fall 2017 aerospace engineering, 2.10 with 3 prerequisites completed, 3.10 with 2 prerequisites completed)
http://arweb.sdsu.edu/es/admissions/transfers/gpa.html (2.70 GPA for fall 2017 aerospace engineering)
Of course, from a California community college, you could also apply to transfer to other schools including the UCs, PSU, and VT.