avoid gas fee to move from wallet to exchange?

i was experimenting and moved $100 USDC and $100 MATIC from coinbase exchange to coinbase wallet. Gas was $7 each, i was like whatever. I tried to stake in some pools but gas was more than $100… so these are dead in the water. I'm trying to move back to CB exchange, gas is $80. why is it so lopsided? is there anyway I can recoup this money, or im just stuck? the USDC wont even go up in value….

is there a way I can convert them into a non ERC without gas?