Thinking about studying abroad

I live in the States and really want to study in the EU. So far I have been really interested in Spain as Spanish is my mother tongue and want to be able to improve the skill in academic settings. I have visited over the summer as a summer program and truly fell in love.

Issue is that I am seeing a lot of people warning against the move because of the low pay and low funding. Which I did hear grad students talk about while I was there, so I am really worried about studying out there. I'd also want to bring my boyfriend along, so that complicates matters.

I've also seen many sentiments about the States having great institutions (which it still does even with politics), so leaving seems like it would be a waste of opportunity and potential.