It doesn’t require a lot of imagination to compare the Student Government Association president to a mayor.
Both positions are responsible for a certain population and must ensure they are doing the best for that community, but sometimes the SGA president earns more than the elected official.
SGA president Michael Kilbride, a senior finance major, receives a yearly salary of $20,000. An income that is nearly $8,600 more than that of Deltona Mayor Dennis Mulder’s $11,401 salary, but one that is seven times less than Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer’s salary of $141,521.
“Mayors of these cities, especially the smaller ones, often have other jobs or holdings which can help provide,” Kilbride said. “I don’t have another job. I am in this office over 40 hours a week, and I am a full-time student. It’s my job to listen and be available to students. If I didn’t get paid, I wouldn’t be able to be here as much as I am. I would be here only five or 10 hours a week, because I would have to have another job so I could afford my tuition and rent.”
Kilbride’s salary is provided through activity and service fees and is approved by SGA.
These fees — $10.64 per credit hour — amount to the entire $15.5 million budget SGA uses to do things like pay salaries, turn on the lights in the Student Union and provide free scantrons.
“Being SGA president is a lot of responsibility,” said Andrew Vouris, a junior business major. “It takes out a lot of their time in order to fulfill their duties. I don’t think a salary is out of the question, but a $20,000 salary is a little excessive for someone who is still in school.”
Kilbride’s salary has drawn criticism from those who advocate that participation in SGA is a reward in itself.
“I think that for a glorified winner of a popularity contest, that his job should be more of a service to the school, and that if we only had a fraction of that $20,000 for other things, we could do so much more with the school,” said Tyler Teegardin, a junior art history major.
“The SGA president doesn’t do enough in one year to deserve that, and if he does, we don’t see it as a student body and it should be more publicized in order for us to rationalize that he deserves it.”
However, UCF is not the only state university to offer its SGA officials monetary compensation for the hours they commit to student government and their school. Other Florida university SGA presidents also receive salaries or monetary benefits.
According to the vice president of the University of Miami, student government presidents can get a 50 percent discount off the cost of tuition or a scholarship worth about $17,000.
At the University of Florida, Steve Orlando, the director of the UF News Bureau, says that student government presidents can receive a yearly salary of $8,995, a $150 monthly cell phone allotment and a meal card worth up to $3,000.
Florida State University’s SGA president earns $7.25 an hour and works 32 hours each week, according to Robin Harrison, FSU’s SGA administration executive program assistant.
“I’m in my office until 2 a.m. sometimes, and it is just me and the janitors,” Kilbride said. “It’s a full-time job representing 53,000 students to the community. The salary allows me to do that, to dedicate myself to this job. It allows anyone to be president.”
Kilbride is not the only SGA official at UCF to receive monetary compensation for his position. Several other student government members, including the vice president and comptroller, earn salaries as well, which they feel are validated by their work
“There are vast responsibilities that come with being in SGA. We are responsible to a huge student body, and that takes time,” said Taylor Lochrane, the SGA vice president.
“We all work hard, especially the president, and love what we do.”