(Bloomberg Business) — With graduation season around the corner, more than a few families are probably wondering just how much that college degree will be worth.

There's little doubt education is associated with higher income, better financial decision-making and more wealth. However, issues that are harder for an individual to control – what type of family you come from, whether you get an inheritance, or how healthy you are — also play a growing role in determining your net worth, according to a new report by researchers William Emmons and Bryan Noeth at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Education "is important, but it's not the whole story," Emmons, a senior economic adviser at the St. Louis Fed, said in an interview.  "You can't simply send everyone to college and expect to solve all the social problems that we have, including problems in the job market."