I suppose it depends on how long it has been since you studied.

From my experience it was beneficial to do the TAFE Cert first as I knew some basic things first and had been doing TAFE courses since I had left high school so was still familiar with the process of studying but in saying that TAFE and Uni studies are worlds apart. It was a transition from TAFE assessments to Uni assessments.

With uni, you will do a number of general subjects (well at least it was like that at my uni) and then there are specific HR/IR etc subjects that you will do.

The TAFE cert may assist with your Uni application - applications for mid year intake usually close sometime in April so you may be able to look at their requirements etc and you could also see if they have part time placements (uni you will do two subjects per semester, TAFE you will do around two or three subjects per semester - depends on the local setup).

I found it difficult to manage with a child but it may not be like that for you. I didn't actually return to uni once DD was born. I couldn't cope with being away from her when she would be so young (she would have been 6months when I had to return) so for me it was about her age. It would have been easy enough to find her care whilst I was in class but it is the time at the library, time to write the assignments etc that I would find difficult to find. Hope that makes sense