Letter to your State Senators/Assemblymen

I saw this on the New Jersey Veterinary Medicine Association website news section:

Dear Assemblyman/Senator ,
I am writing to implore that the requested $1,505,538.00 funding for the Veterinary Medical Education Contract Program be fully restored in Governor Corzine's proposed budget. It is currently cut to zero.
This program compensates for the fact that there is no College of Veterinary Medicine in the state of New Jersey. There are only 28 veterinary schools in the USA, and all restrict access to "out of state" residents by offering very limited seats to non-resident applicants and charging exorbitant "out of state" tuitions. In 1971 the NJ State Legislature approved funding for the Veterinary Medical Education Contract Program. It is a cost effective, efficient alternative to establishing a College of Veterinary Medicine in New Jersey by "purchasing" contract seats for NJ residents at existing veterinary colleges in other states (University of Pennsylvania, Tufts, Cornell, Tuskegee, Iowa, Illinois and Oklahoma). There are currently 97 New Jersey students in contract seats, with 24 new contracts awarded annually. For less than $2 million annually, these contracts not only assure New Jersey residents of the availability of seats at the rate of 1/5applicants (national average for "in-state" applicants to "in-state" schools), but also allow them to attend the schools at "in-state" tuition.
If the program is cut to zero funding, as currently proposed, not only will the students currently in contract seats be severely impacted, having to suddenly pay out of state tuition, but New Jersey resident access to veterinary education will be decimated.
The demand for veterinarians in New Jersey is high. How many of your friends, neighbors and constituents do NOT own a pet or other domestic animal???
I realize that there are serious cuts being made in many crucial areas, but the $1.6 million currently needed to even sustain this critical program is such a relatively small amount, surely it can be re-instated without jeopardizing other efforts to balance the state budget!