College tuition loans for poor students were granted for the first time Friday to students of Tibet University.

The credit was issued by the Tibetan Branch of the China Construction Bank, totaling 7.4 million yuan (892,000 million U.S. dollars).

A total of 813 poverty-stricken students have been given first- year loans, accounting for 2.4 million yuan of the total tuition funding.

It is the first time that financial institutes have offered loans to Tibetan university students, sources said.