What can you and your parents afford without needing more debt than the federal direct loans?
Is Cuesta your local community college? If so, it probably costs less than $20,000 per year.
Recruiting by companies in California is more likely to favor colleges in California out of convenience. Note that aerospace companies hire mechanical engineers as well. Other California publics besides UCD and CPSLO with aerospace engineering include CPP, CSULB, SDSU, SJSU, UCI, UCLA, and UCSD. Even more have mechanical engineering (check for aerospace electives).
Colorado pre-engineering to engineering requires a 2.7 college GPA (cumulative and technical) with no grade worse than C-: http://www.colorado.edu/pre-engineering/how-pre-engineering-works/transferring-engineering .