Played a bit of Skyrim just to keep some kind of moment in it. Using a skill trainer (whatsherface at the College of Winterhold) I went from level 39 in Destruction magic to level 90. It cost about a hundred grand in gold (leaving me at a bit over two hundred grand) but my overall level went 51 to 54, so that was totally worth it and it'll only take a week or two in-game to earn that gold back.
Do I consider that "cheesing" my way through the game? Nope. Because the magic system in Skyrim is entirely borked, if you get to too high of a level before deciding to become a mage then you'll only have access to spells that can best be described as "merely annoying" to the enemies that have popped up. To paint a clearer picture, the spells you can buy/find are tied to your skill level in specific magic schools, so say you have 30 in Destruction Magic, the strongest destruction spells you'll have access to do 25 damage. 25 damage to a level 30 bandit is equivalent to a mosquito biting an elephant.
Unlike melee/bows, you cannot improve spells in Skyrim. You can upgrade a basic iron sword that does 8 damage to do 50 if you have the Smithing skill or enchanted item but your 25 damage spell will always do 25 damage unless you dual cast it or chug a potion that temporarily increases the damage (the boosts only last up to 60 seconds). Also unlike melee/ranged weapons, you can only use magic when you have magicka, compared to melee where you can swing your sword all day even if you don't have enough stamina to do a power attack. You CAN enchant some equipment to reduce the magicka cost (even all the way to 0) but it'll take you a fairly long time to get to that level of enchanting.
So no, I don't consider it "lazy" or anything when I pay a trainer to get certain skills up to par. I mean, I'm not going to spend three minutes of my life using a novice spell like Flames for several minutes nonstop on a generic enemy until they finally get bored give up and die.
and that has been a NoNewTaleToTell essay. For all your essay needs be sure to look for the username NoNewTaleToTell, All Essays All The Time.