Students tweeted photos of their report cards and explained their financial circumstances.
The generous giveaway grew out of a separate contest on the Bang Bang hit maker's Twitter feed, in which she'd asked fans to send videos of themselves singing along to her song Regret in Your Tears.
When Minaj clarified that fans from any country in the world could participate, one user responded: "Well you wanna pay for my tuition?"
It comes after Chance The Rapper donated $US1 million ($1.3 million) to schools in Chicago for "arts and enrichment programming".
"This isn't about politics, this isn't about posturing, this is about taking care of the kids," he said.
He added: "The cheque that I donated is a call to action. I'm challenging major companies and corporations in Chicago and across the US to donate and take action."
