Should I risk it all? (Could end up unemployed)

Ouch, thats a difficult decision. I think at the end of the day you are going to have a plan C. Plan C is where are you going to live should you not get either, and would you be ok doing a job, even if its temporary to get some money behind you so you can try again on the masters application.
Once you got plan C in place and your happy on that, then you can start thinking about plan A, the safe sfe funded option which is already in place. And plan B, the more riskier option but with more money.
Think about the masters itself, if its the same kind of masters and you think you will be ok on the sfe funding budget wise, then why risk it for more money? If Plan B masters is an all singing all dancing and much better than plan A masters and you think you will get much more out of it and better job oportunities etc, then go for plan b, providing you are happy with plan c of course, should things dont go to plan.
My eldest, shes in a predicament as well. She did an integrated masters and she nearly didnt make 4th year as she had a rotten second year. But she made it after a great 3rd year and is on borderline 2:2/2:1. She needs a 2:1 for a ERC funded 19k stipend at Manchester uni phd which is in place if she gets it. If she doesn't, then shes to move to manchester anyway to be closer to her boyfriend, get a job and live in that area. She has the back up plan and come next week for 4th year results we will know for sure which way its going to go. Either way shes covered, so if you can put in that back up plan C in place, I think it will be much easier to think about whether its A or B you go for.

Thank you for the reply! I think you are right, I need a plan c which at the moment I don’t have. I think I’ve been avoiding thinking about worst case scenarios bc I really don’t want the worst to happen. Good luck on your eldest daughter’s 4th year i’m sure she’ll smash it.

I am a 3rd student who decided 2 months ago to do a top up 4th year masters. I will by next year, hoping all goes well, graduate with an MSci instead of a normal BSci. It’s not funded, but I will get SFE funding.
Until, 2 weeks ago an email comes into my inbox detailing an opportunity to do a fully funded masters with a stipend of £20,000, applications open this week. However, I won’t get a decision on my application till the 31st of July. The problem is, in order to do this masters, I’ll have to contact my uni to say I’ve changed my mind and agree to finish my course this year. I don’t even know if I can attend graduation now bc I didn’t fill out the necessary forms for it when it opened. This will probably cause a lot of problems for the uni in terms of changing my course back and in terms of allowing me to go to graduation. In addition, the funded masters requires healthcare registration with the relevant body so I’ll have to get that sorted. As you can see, there’s a lot of moving parts that will need to be (to my dismay) moved, and very quickly.
And most importantly, there is a chance that I will be rejected from the fully funded masters and by that point, I will have graduated and lost out on the chance of doing the masters I’m currently on, in September.
The funded masters has 30 places to offer so my chances are not zero, but it’s still a risk which could see me unemployed, by the end of it.
Thoughts?