An Affordable 99 Days

There are many poignant aspects of one’s home stretch of college. There comes added pressure to make the most of one’s remaining time on the Hilltop, and one tradition that helps seniors do just that is The Tombs’ 99 Days Club.

Available to all seniors, the promotion requires all participants to visit The Tombs each day until graduation and purchase at least one item. Seniors who finish the program have their names immortalized on a plaque on the restaurant’s wall.

The 99 Days Club is a senior class favorite — and for good reason. It encourages seniors — who are often preoccupied with sorting out future plans — to take at least some time out of their days to take a break and spend time with friends at a Georgetown landmark.

And while The Tombs makes an effort to help seniors complete the challenge with its accommodations for spring break and out-of-town policies, many seniors find the financial burden a roadblock to partaking in the tradition. With the cheapest items on the menu running around $2.25 and alcoholic beverages running even higher, the cost of the 99 Days Club definitely adds up, a factor which likely affects the retention rate for the club.

To increase participation and retention in the 99 Days Club, The Tombs should consider introducing a system of graduated discounts. Once students make it past the first 30 days, for example, they could receive a discount of a certain percent on their purchases, then more for the next 30 days, and so on. And the discount need not apply to all items. The restaurant could set aside certain items for which the discount applies. This would not only benefit students; a higher retention rate would obviously make The Tombs more money.

The 99 Days Club is a great Georgetown tradition, and a way to make it more accessible to a larger group of students is certainly worth considering.