My opinion: do those things have to cost thousands of dollars? --yes and no, costs could come down, but in the lifetime of a hearing aid it could be replaced 3 times or more at no charge to the user.

What are the primary cost components? The primary components are: Microphone {cheap to produce} Receiver (speaker) {cheap to produce} Processing Chip {expensive to R&D, cheap to produce}

Are the people doing these jobs highly paid? Salary in Canada was between $60,000 (diploma) - $100,000 (Doctorate) when I left the industry.

Are they highly paid because of high costs of college tuition? Depends, but after leaving for IT and making more than that with less education - I am unsure if they are "highly paid"

Would free college help lower their costs? I would hope so, but doubt the savings would pass on to the consumer.