11:05 AM PT -- TMZ has confirmed 2 more people have received funds from Nicki, with one payment being for $800. Everyone else waiting for theirs ... sit tight.

Nicki Minaj didn't just talk the talk (or tweet the tweet) -- TMZ has learned the rapper ALREADY started transferring thousands of dollars to college students who asked for her financial help on Twitter.

The story is great ... a fan sent Nicki a meme Saturday night on Twitter jokingly asking if she would fork over a check to cover some college fees.

Nicki replied, "Show me straight A's that I can verify w/ur school and I'll pay it. Who wants to join THAT contest?!?! Dead serious. Shld I set it up?"

As you can imagine, Nicki's timeline BLEW UP with requests from students -- and Nicki responded to more than a dozen offering to hook 'em up.

Some people asked for help with student loans costing thousands of dollars ... others asked for less in tuition fees, books and other school supplies. Nicki was pretty thorough in her questioning why these folks really needed the money.

We checked in with some of the lucky beneficiaries who told us Nicki has already started to send the money. She asked for bank info through the DMs, and one person we spoke with said he already got $500 from Minaj.

By the way, Nicki says she might open up the vault again in a month or 2 ... so, get those report cards ready!