She will lead the Otago Polytechnic Students Association (OPSA) again next year after winning the presidential election on Thursday.
There was one other candidate, Tawhiri Karetai.
Ms Cloughley and Ryan Ward were co-presidents in 2008 and this year, until Mr Ward resigned in May to take up a full-time job.
She has been acting president since.
Ms Cloughley (32) had planned to leave student politics at the end of the year but said yesterday the threat of student association membership becoming voluntary had made her change her mind.
ACT New Zealand MP Sir Roger Douglas' private member's Bill calling for voluntary student membership passed its first reading on Wednesday and has been referred to a select committee.
Voluntary membership would spell the end of OPSA, she said.
"To date, there are only three presidents from this year returning, and there will be no-one returning at the national [student association] level. I felt it was important to stay in the job so there were some presidents who could hit the ground running."
