UPDATE 1-Nelnet Q1 profit beats Street view

* Q1 EPS $1.08

* Q1 interest expenses fall 65 pct

* Net interest income more than doubles

* Fee based income up 14 pct May 10 (Reuters) - Nelnet Inc (NNI.N), a consolidator of student loans, posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street expectations, helped mainly by lower interest expenses.

For the first quarter, the company earned $54.3 million, or $1.08 a share, compared with $25.5 million, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts were looking for a profit of 92 cents a share, excluding items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Interest expenses fell 65 percent to $50.9 million.

Nelnet said net interest income for the quarter was at $85.1 million, compared with $28.5 million a year ago.

Nelnet's fee-based revenue from its payment processing and enrollment services businesses rose 14 percent to $50.7 million.

Shares of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based company closed at $17.72 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)