Picture this: After years of hard work, the world is your oyster. You’re about to graduate with an advanced degree into a prestigious field. You then see a restaurant manager position that pays just as much as your hopeful starting salary, without the student debt attached.

One of our listeners was in that position last year, and he’s not alone: Americans face more than $1.3 trillion in student debt and there’s less and less assurance the job market is going to provide salaries to cover it.

So for all the students home for the holiday break (and their parents) we’re revisiting and interview we did last January with Maura Reynolds, a senior editor at Politico. She’s reported extensively on the school-skills-jobs pipeline.

Plus, part two of our annual predictions episode: Last year Kai Ryssdal said “Nothing will change.” Was he right? We talk about it and look ahead to 2020.

Don’t forget, we have new daily Alexa explainers and email newsletters all through the holidays. Subscribe here, and check out last week’s issue if you missed it.

Finally, our end-of-year fundraiser ends today. Don’t wait: Become a Marketplace investor right now at Marketplace.org/donate.