I agree that there may be some girls who use it as an excuse not to go out.... but, they would have found a different excuse if this was not available. Numbers increased with the increased distance from 2-2.5. No reason to think numbers would go down for an extra half mile. It will be nice to only have to lay out a JH course and one HS course instead of two. It will make the meets a bit longer, but that is not a huge deal.
I do disagree with the notion that this makes it so girls are now doing the "same" as boys. When it comes to racing, it is about time, not distance. How long are you running at your maximum effort. Girls will be doing "more" than boys, because they will be racing longer. I am fine with the change..... it was going to happen sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner. But, 18-23 minutes is a long race. Wasn't that long ago that the race was 11-13 minutes. Almost twice as long now. Different training involved in those different race durations.
I really don't think there will be any girls getting recognized that were not getting recognized before. If there is a college coach out there that cannot figure out an equivalency between 4k and 5k they should be fired. It is not very hard at all to realize that a girl who can run a 14:10 4k can also run a great 5k. On top of that, no runner is given a "cross country" scholarship. It is for CC and TRACK.... and those times are truly equivalent for everyone.