UPDATE 1- Student Loan Q2 profit triples sequentially

* Q2 profit $1.25 vs $0.38 in Q1

* Q2 loan loss provisions fell 2 pct to $44.8 mln

July 17 (Reuters) - The Student Loan Corp's (STU.N) quarterly profit more than tripled sequentially, helped by gains on loans sold under the U.S. government's loan purchase program.

Student Loan, a unit of Citigroup Inc's (C.N) Citibank N.A., said gains on loans sold increased by $17.0 million related to the sale of loans to the Department of Education under the Loan Purchase Commitment Program.

For the quarter, the company reported earnings of $24.9 million, or $1.25 a share, compared with $7.5 million, or 38 cents a share, in the prior quarter.

Net interest income, before loan loss provisions, fell about 41 percent to $70.9 million from the prior year.

Provision for loan losses was $44.8 million as of June 30, compared with $45.8 million a year earlier.

The company said it experienced some narrowing in the spread between commercial paper rate (CP) and London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), although the spread between CP and LIBOR is still significantly higher than the historical average.

Shares of the Stamford, Connecticut-based company rose 51 cents to $42.93 early Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Abhinav Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)