The master’s has become the fastest-growing college degree in the country.

More than half a million master’s degrees were awarded in 2012, far more than any other kind of graduate credential, according to the Council of Graduate Schools.

For students, the master’s represents a leg up — and sometimes even a necessary degree — in a competitive job market for college grads. For schools, it can be a source of new revenue as well as a new theater of competition with other institutions.

Joining the pack vying for students is Kansas University, which has faced declining enrollment in its master’s programs. Between fall 2011 and fall 2013, enrollment of master’s students dropped by nearly 550 students at KU’s Lawrence and Edwards campuses. Overall, master’s enrollment has dropped nearly 20 percent since 2008.

According to KU spokesman Joseph Monaco, the university attributes the loss to growing competition for master’s students. The university is responding through targeted recruitment efforts and by adding to its master’s offerings, with an emphasis on flexibility and meeting industry and student demand.

Many of KU’s newest master’s degrees are based out of the Edwards Campus in Overland Park, where the competition with other schools is stiff.

David Cook, vice chancellor of the Edwards Campus, said, “Our general approach to new programs is to get out in the community and build relationships with business, industry and government to see what their needs are.”

Since last summer, KU has added to its Edwards programs a professional science master’s in environmental science, a master’s in educational technology and a master’s in accounting, specifically tailored for working professionals.

Cook said the university makes the decision to start a program based on projections of enrollment growth, with the hope that a program will begin to pay for itself after five years.

“You can’t throw out a hundred new programs, of course,” he said.

Edwards faces a tough market. Cook estimates KU competes with 40 to 50 other schools vying for students in the Kansas City area.

The online world is another area of growth for KU. The KU School of Education recently established two online master’s programs and has more in the pipeline that will debut during the next year. KU also has online master’s programs in nursing, pharmaceutical chemistry and dietetics and nutrition, among others.

The university is trying to innovate master’s offerings in other ways, too. In February, KU announced the creation of an accelerated program that allows students to get both a bachelor’s and master’s in philosophy in five years. This summer, KU announced another five-year accelerated program in classics.

As students try to increase their options with master’s degrees, some can end up paying a steep cost. Across the country, median debt for students completing a master’s degree was $57,600 in 2012, a 31 percent increase from four years ago, according to a report from the nonpartisan New America institute.

Pantaleon Florez III, who this summer graduated from KU with a master’s in curriculum and instruction through the education school, said he worked part-time jobs while in the program. Without a graduate assistantship, he had to finance the program with federal student loans and lived dangerously close to the poverty level.

“I was completely insecure the entire time,” he said.

By the time Florez was finished, he estimates the program cost him around $25,000. By July, he was still looking for a job after thinking the degree would lead to public school teacher certification, which it didn’t, he said.