I don’t think it’s fair to compare getting help on an admissions essay to work a student would do in an academic setting, re: being called before the honor board for getting help. The admissions essay is a personal memoir; more akin to journalism or creative writing (depending on the student) than an academic paper. And no creative writing or journalism student would get pulled in front of an honor board for having someone–like a professor, editor, or peer-editor–look over their work and giving developmental feedback. That’s what an editor/mentor is FOR, and how those arenas work.
I agree that all students should have someone look over their admissions essay–friend, teacher, parent; ideally a stranger (people close to us tend to give positive/sugar-coated feedback on writing). Personal memoir is hard, even for professionals, let alone 17-year-olds. It can be highly beneficial to get an outside opinion, especially one that might steer the student toward or away from certain ideas/expressions that could make or break them–or just make the essay stronger. Not everyone needs to or should pay for that (many amazing people on CC do this for free), but some students do, indeed, benefit from private counseling and that’s up to them. If you will need hours and hours of help, it would behoove you to pay someone. As someone else said: a good private consultant works with the student to develop their voice; they don’t write the essay for them, or polish it to the point it’s clear an adult had a heavy hand in it.